Sinnoh Academy Series :: Time
by VineCore
Summary: Ash is a freshman, in the Sinnoh Academy, the last of the Aura Academies. Now, he must find out about his Past,his Objectives,the mystery of his father,all the while enduring his Seniors,Teachers,romances and the Dramas of the Teenage life.
1. Character Bios

**Summary: Well , this story is a mixture of many Anime, story plots, History, fantasies from different resources etc. mixed with my own imagination. Of course, It's about Ash, a newbie in the ways of the Sage. Recently being admitted in the Sinnoh Academy, Ash has to conquer the difficulties that the teachers and the seniors have to throw at him. Note: This is a High school fic, but kinda is not. You'll see. ;) And yeah, the shippings are undecided. But they WILL be one or most of these. And yeah, and by the way, this isn't as 'formal' as it is seems. Please forgive and correct any Grammatical and spelling errors, English is not my mother-tongue. So, yeah. And Also, I humbly invite Farla, to review my work, his opinions help a lot, because he is able to pinpoint the mistakes, so I can correct them. And readers, Don't forget to review too. :D **

Contest Shipping

Pearl Shipping

Advance Shipping

Ego Shipping

And Many others... Well, Reading on...

A Sage is one who can manipulate Aura, as a Mage, Warrior or otherwise. The Academy, or The Sinnoh Academy is sadly the only Academy left which actually teaches the ways of the Sage. The other Academies were lost during the Great Disjunction. The Cataclysmic loss caused many of the residents of the other regions to flee to Sinnoh as it was safer in the hands of the Elders. Many of them also went there so as to be taught to manipulate Aura. This made Sinnoh the only region with an Aura army. Thus, it became the most powerful of all regions , and that is the reason the council of the elders made it their headquarters. It has gained importance over the years and has become the centre of all activities. Other regions are important too, but that will be revealed later in the story. Getting into the Academy can be relatively easy for some while tough as hell for the others. All they gotta do is duel an examiner at the Academy. The applicant isn't expected to win it, its upto the examiner to let him in or kick him out according to his skills. The Academy has no age limitations, even a fifty year old could learn there, although most of the students are teens. Each student must challenge a prof. at least once a year. ( Read On In Apprentice Section of Ranks) A duel is a kind of fight, in which opponents use their skills to compete with each other. In simple words, Aurafied battles in which the trainers fight alongside their Pokemon . The Academy's just like a real college, There is boys' dorm and a girls' one. There is a teacher's lodge too. Prof. Oak is the Principal of the Academy as well as one of it's high ranking teachers. Now, you may have wondered why the heck do they train? Well, that will be revealed as the story goes.:( ( Don't wanna spoil it!) The Academy also has a Pokemon reserve building, built only for Pokemon on the reserve party of the trainers. (Much like Oak's Lab back in the good ol' series). And years don't matter in this Academy like the real world. A person can stay and learn at the Academy for as long as he likes, ***conditions. Years are simply to denote a person's experience in the Academy.

*** Excepting if they're expelled,

**NOTE: Some of the words you will read don't have their actual meaning correct in this story. Eg. Apprentice is usually a person learning something from his Master while in this story an Apprentice simply means a Student or a Beginner. And Yeah Aura in this story is similar to Chakra in the Naruto series.**

Some pre-introduced Ranks:

**Aura Ranks: ( Many of these have sub-ranks)**

**Oracle**: He is the Supreme overlord , the ruler of Aura , in simpler words, a mysterious unnamed character who is in command of the Elders and council. He is usually not included or counted as the six Elders. The only thing known about him is that He is the Master of all Elements of an Aura Mage. He is also the expert at Aura weaponry. Although He is powerful, The Oracle is not expected to participate in any kind of conflict because of being a common piece. He can choose whatever side He wants to fight for, but He usually let's the two participants work their differences out themselves, without taking part in the conflict itself. In other words He acts as a spiritual as well as military leader for all regions known. Current whereabouts are unknown.

**Elder :** There are 6 elders in all. They are experienced individuals and experts in the ways of the Sage . Three of them already teach at the Sinnoh Academy as high ranking professors. The Elders are the only ones allowed to seek audience with the Oracle or even see His face. For their rank and honor they are respected everywhere. Almost all of them are Mages of Aura. They are the government of the Sinnoh region. The Elders, along with the oracle are called The Order of the Sage.

**Professors:** These are people who are pretty much what they are called. They teach Students the ways of the Sage. Although not at the level of the elders , the professors of Sinnoh Academy are quite adept at their work. There are certain requirements to be a professor at the Sinnoh Academy. First ,A professor has to be better than any of his students at anytime.( Kinda obvious, Imagine a professor having his butt whooped by his student). If he fails to win in a challenge issued by a pupil, the student will rise up in his/her rank, but the prof. won't be affected. Second, A prof. has to keep on training to rise up in his ranks. The others rules are not really important right now.

**Apprentice: ** A person who is new to the ways of the Sage. No matter how good an Apprentice might be, his rank is unchanged until he defeats one of the professors in a duel. However, the consequences of Losing a duel with a professor are dire. The apprentice will receive a demotion in rank for every two losses and if he fails to win five times, he is expelled. A point should be noted that only the Apprentice is allowed to issue a challenge, on his behalf. A professor isn't allowed to duel an Apprentice unless it's for some special reason.

**Inquisitors**: A group of Mages who are responsible for the inquisition department. They work for the Academy as well for the Elder Council . They extract information from criminals using their Aura. They usually work undercover, obscure to the world. All of them are Loyal to the Order. Inquisitors' methods can sometimes be harsh and they would also go to the extreme of leaving someone mentally scarred for life, just to get the info they need. Inquisitors are skilled in one branch of the Aura science that is mental focus.

**Aura Guardians:** Not revealed yet… ;)

**Aura types: ( There are many of them other groups not revealed right now, but they soon will be )**

**Aura Mage**: An Aura Mage is a person who manipulates Aura for elemental or magic uses. A Mage is highly respected, for there are very few of them who possess the skills to be one. Aura Mages are usually considered more powerful than a Aura melee fighter because of their variety in both close range and long ranged attacks.

**Aura Melee Fighter: **Commonly known as Aura Warrior, an Aura Melee fighter is a person who manipulates his Aura to damage their opponents physically. At lower levels, a Warrior has to force their Aura into physically existent weapons (Sword, crossbow etc.) and temporarily imbue them with Aura to amplify their damage and change the nature of the attack( like adding fire to the bolt). At higher levels a Warrior is able to conjure his weapons out of thin air. Both the methods are, of course not permanent, their effects wear off once the caster orders it or just runs outta energy to sustain it. Aura Warriors make up the majority of the Aura Sages, and almost all the newbie are Warriors, who on later in life hone their skills to become a Mage.

**Other Groups** : These are minor groups who are sub-groups of one of the two above ones. They play important roles in their own fields, like an Aura Healer, an Aura Inquisitor, and even an Aura Summoner.

**Character Bios-Students, Incomplete yet. The Brackets are Total No. of Pokemon they have. It has been left blank If its 6 or less.**

**Males-**

**Gary Oak-** An adoptive brother of Ash and one of his greatest Friendival . Since he was 9, he has been a milestone for Ash to cross. Gary is good with every melee weapon there is. He can be a little obnoxious sometimes and has a huge pride. He, like all goodies loves his Pokemon and takes good care of them. He is the grandson of Prof Oak. Due to that, no one dares to mess with him. Gary is an expert melee fighter who fights at a close range. His main focus is defense. He's still a novice in Aura magic. Gary's a mid and long ranged fighter.

_Pokemon_**:** Umbreon, Blastoise, Electavire, Magmar, Scizor, Nidoking. ( 9 in reserve)

_Relations: _Ash Ketchum ( Adopted brother) Samuel Oak ( Grandfather) , Unknown deceased mother.

_Age:_ 14

_Type:_Aura Warrior, Beginner at Aura magic.

_Rank:_ Prodigy

_Homeland : _Pallet Town, Kanto

**Ash Ketchum: **Ash Ketchum is an optimistic, energetic and determined boy who has recently been admitted to the Academy. He can be a bit childish sometimes and some of his activities are just downright annoying, nevertheless, he is loved and liked by almost everyone. He is the main protagonist of the story. Ash doesn't know much about his past apart from that his mother went missing when he was a child. Prof. Oak, an old Family friend took him under his care until he was old enough to enter the Academy. Ash can be a bit naïve and dense, but he cares deeply for his Pokemon as well as friends. He is not particularly strong, mainly because he's a newbie. He is an Aura Warrior skilled with close and mid ranged attacks.

_Pokemon: _Pikachu, Infernape, Sceptile, Buizel, Staraptor, Gliscor (34)

_Relations:_ Gary Oak (Adoptive Brother), Samuel Oak (Father Figure) , Delia Ketchum ( Mother, Status Unknown)

_Age:_ 14

_Type:_ Aura Warrior

_Rank_**: **Newbie

_Homeland : _Pallet Town, Kanto

**Brock Harrison**_**:**_Brock is a skilled Aura Doctor as well as an Aura Warrior. He is one of Ash's closest friends. Coming from a large family, he has a lot of burden on his shoulders. Brock is a knowledgeable person, who is very friendly. He acts as a guide to Ash and helps him in any way he can. He tends to fall for any girl older than him. Although he is a skilled Warrior, he doesn't fight much. Brock is one of Ash's oldest companions in the story.

_Pokemon:_Croagunk, Chansey, Forretress, Steelix, Crobat, Sudowoodo. (9)

_Relations:_ Spare me...

_Age:_ 18

_Type:_ Aura Warrior, Aura doctor.

_Rank:_Intermediate

_Homeland :_ Pewter City, Kanto

**Tracey Sketchit: **A highly creative young man with a flair for inducing art in his battles. He is fascinated by any new Pokemon fact he gets and practically drools over Prof. Oak's Research. He is one of Ash's friends, but comes later. Tracey has also developed a crush on Misty. Tracey is an Aura Warrior, and fairly good at it. His attempts at Aura Magic, well, end pretty much destructively. Although He is older than Ash, he can act a bit childish sometimes.

_Pokemon:_Smeargle, Venonat, Marill, Scyther.

_Relations_**:** Unknown

_Age_**:** 16

_Type_**:** Aura Warrior

_Rank_**:** Adept

_Homeland :_ Orange Archipelago, Kanto

**Barry: **A hyperactive boy from Sinnoh itself. Barry's father is the renowned Professor Palmer, who is an Aura Mage. Barry is one of Ash's rivals at the Academy, but everyone treats him as a friend. ( Much to his annoyance). Barry has a powerful set of Pokemon, not to mention he is a very Powerful Aura Mage. He has always envied Paul's Pokemon, because of their toughness and endurance. He has also always envied Paul for his ruthlessness to his opponents. He has a signature phrase which probably everyone knows about. Prior to his admission in the Academy, something happened to his mother, of which he has never spoken to anyone about. Barry is a long ranged fighter with very Powerful Aura attacks.

_Pokemon_**:**Empoleon, Staraptor, Roserade, Heracross, Hitmonlee, Skarmory

_Relations_**:** Palmer( Father) Mother ( Status Unknown)

_Age_**: **14

_Type_**:** Aura Mage

_Rank_**: **Adept

_Homeland :_Twinleaf Town Sinnoh

**Conway:** An extremely nerdy but incredibly knowledgeable Student from his second year. His battling usually comprises of pure Prethought-out strategy. This is usually point of rivalry between him and Ash, who believes that a person should fight with Strategy AND Instinct . Although he is considered the Class Geek, he is a childhood friend of Dawn and Kenny and is very loyal to them. He also has a small crush on Dawn. His strategy involves having status effects on his opponents as well as enhancing his and his Pokémon's attribute. He is not really good with battles, it's his grades that got him the Adept rank.

_Pokemon_:Slowking, Heracross, Aggron, Shuckle, Lickilicky, Dusknoir

_Relations_**:** Unknown

_Age_**:** 15

_Type_**:** Aura Mage

_Rank:_ Adept

_Homeland : _Sinnoh

**Kenny:** Kenny is a cute kid from his first year. Although he appears young, he is very much as old as Conway. Kenny is Dawn's and Conway's Best Childhood friend. He can be a bit overprotective of Dawn sometimes for reasons ***unknown*** . Also, he considers Barry a fierce rival of his, though the feelings are not mutual. Kenny is a mid ranged Aura Warrior, although he _tries _his hand at Aura Magery and is a really big fan of it, he sucks at being a magician. Due to this, he has developed a kind of rivalry with Tracey Sketchit. Nevertheless, he is a determined kid who would do anything for his friends.

_Pokemon: _Empoleon, Alakazam, Breloom, Machoke, Floatzel_**.**_

_Relations:_ Unknown

_Age: _15

_Type:_ Aura Warrior

_Rank:_ Intermediate

_Homeland : _Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh

**Nando:** Nando is one of the rather older students of the Academy. He is very Polite with everybody and very much social. He dislikes violence, making people wonder why he joined the academy in the first place, but on being asked, he just shrugs it off in a depressed state. Nando is much more interested in music and is usually found singing with his Pokemon. Nando is a long ranged fighter with techniques based on sound. He also has a harp for a weapon.

_Pokemon:_Roserade, Sunflora, Kricketune, Kricketot, Altaria, Armaldo

_Relations:_Unknown

_Age:_ 22

_Type:_ Aura Warrior

_Rank: Adept_

_Homeland: _Sinnoh

**Ritchie: **Ritchie is a childhood friend of Ash and a very kind person. He looks identical to Ash except his brown features. He too has a Pikachu. Ritchie is usually calm, but will fight aggressively and vigorously if someone insults or picks on his friends. Ritchie is a bit older than Ash and Gary, but that doesn't stop him from hanging around with them. Ritchie is a mid ranged fighter. Ritchie also loves his Pokemon so much so, that every one of them is nicknamed.

_Pokemon: _Sparky ( Pikachu ) Rose ( Taillow ) Zippo ( Charmelleon) Cruz ( Pupitar) Happy (Butterfree)

_Relations: _Unknown

_Age: _15

_Type: _Aura Warrior

_Rank_: Intermediate

_Homeland : _Kanto

**Paul:** Basically a jerk. He looks down on weak people and picks on young freshman. He shares a great dislike for Ash,but, at the same time considers him very powerful a rival. He trains his pokemon with no mercy, which is why they are so powerful. He is a ruthless opponent. He also criticizes people weaker than him. Surprisingly enough, he is very respectful to elders and people stronger than him. A lone wolf He is an Aura Mage with a Very powerful team. His greatest rival is perhaps Gary, whom he never seems to defeat, but never loses to either. He also talks with no one, except his Brother Reggie and a few other acquaintances.

_Pokemon:_Torterra, Electivire, Magmortar, Aggron, Drapion, Nidoking (15)

_Relations:_ Reggie( Brother)

_Age:_ 16

_Type:_ Aura Mage

_Rank:_ Prodigy

_Homeland _:Veilstone City, Sinnoh

**Harley:** Another guy, who's a great rival of May's. He absolutely loathes her, although he pretends not to. He will do anything to win, even give up his Pokemon to embarrass and defeat May. He is a social outcast, and surprisingly enough, he absolutely loves it. Despite this, he has made many advances towards May. He is a mid ranged Aura Warrior.

_Pokemon:_Cacturne, Banette, Ariados, Octillery, Wigglytuff.

_Relations:_Unknown

_Age: _17

_Type:_ Aura Warrior

_Rank: _Intermediate

_Homeland_ : Sinnoh

**Drew:** Drew is a green haired guy from his 2nd year. Drew is very confident and kind of a show-off, but he cares for his Pokemon and friends, and never let's his pride cloud his judgement. Drew has been crushing on May since the Day they met, but unfortunately, both are oblivious to each other's feelings. Drew mostly hangs out with Ash and the gang, but takes out time for his Fans too, which he has accumulated because of his impressive fighting styles and well, looks. Drew is a long ranged Aura Warrior.

_Pokemon: _Butterfree, Absol, Flygon, Masquerain, Roserade

_Relations_: Unknown

_Age:_ 16

_Type:_ Aura Warrior

_Rank:_ Adept

_Homeland:_ Hoenn

**Females:**

**Misty:** Another one of Ash's friends. She's very quick-tempered, to the extent of pounding Ash with her Mallet she pulls out of nowhere. Despite this, she is a very sociable person. She is the youngest of her three other sisters. She also is very protective of her friends *cough* too much *cough*. Misty has known Ash and Gary for 5 years now. She is a little older than them. She is a long ranged fighter, which is not a surprise because of her element. She usually holds back but has a great potential. Surprisingly enough, she has a very high rank due to her grades.

_Pokemon: _Gyarados, Politoed, Gyarados, Corsola, Starmie, Togetic, (12)

_Relations: _Violet (Sister), Lily (Sister), Daisy (Sister)

_Age:_ 16

_Type:_ Aura Mage

_Rank: _Prodigy

Homeland : Cerulean City, Kanto

**May:** May is a mutual friend of Misty's and Drew's. May is usually girly and docile. But given the circumstances, she can get Very violent. She is very particular about food. She is grateful to be in the Academy, but she does miss her Parents and Brother a lot. May appears to have a crush on Drew. She is an all ranged fighter with powerful Pokemon. Unfortunately, she's no good with her grades, ending up as the only girl in the group with an intermediate rank, though she cares little for it . Despite this, May is a very respected character throughout the series.

_Pokemon:_Blaziken, Glaceon, Venusaur, Munchlax, Wartortle, Beautifly. (7)

_Relations: _Norman (Father) Caroline (Mother) Max (Brother, Younger)

_Age:_ 15

_Type: _Aura Warrior

_Rank:_ Intermediate

Homeland : Petalburg City, Hoenn

**Dawn:** Dawn is a Sinnoh Native who is a mutual friend of Kenny, Leona and Many others. They are also her Childhood friends. Dawn is a kind girl who is very sociable. He dislikes Ursula for her arrogant behaviour, but is nevertheless a good friend of hers. Dawn, like Ash and Ritchie, is used to keeping her partner Pokemon outside his ball. Dawn is a VERY feminine girl. Although she is good at battling, she sometimes suffers from nervousness and under-confidence, therefore she is VERY dependent on Zoey .She is a mid and close ranged Aura Mage.

_Pokemon:_Piplup, Buneary, Pachirisu, Mamoswine, Togekiss, Quilava (7)

_Relations: _Johanna (Mother)

_Type: Aura Mage_

_Age: _14

_Rank: _Adept

_Homeland: _Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh

**Ursula:** Ursula is an obnoxious girl in her second year. She is a fierce rival of Dawn's , trying to outdo her in any way possible. A distinguished trait of Ursula is that she is relatively more calm than most of the others. She will only get angry if she is denied something. She is also a friend of Kenny's. And she's also a huge show off. Ursula is a mid-ranged fighter.

_Pokemon:_Gabite, Plusle, Minun, Jigglypuff, Vaporeon, Flareon. (7)

_Relations: _Unknown

_Age:_ 14

_Type: _Aura Warrior.

_Rank: _Adept

_Homeland: _Sinnoh

**Zoey:**Zoey is one of Dawn's childhood friends, however they never revealed how. Zoey is very confident, but has the talent of not being too confident. She helps Dawn out with her confidence issues, as well as her dresses and hairdo. Zoey can act a bit rude sometimes because of her outspokenness . She is a All ranged fighter with a fully evolved team of Powerful Pokemon. She is very much liked by everyone due to her knowledge of battling, and exceptional skills.

_Pokemon:_Glameow, Mismagius, Gastrodon, Lumineon, Gallade, Leafeon.

_Relations: _Unknown

_Type: _Aura Warrior

_Age:_ 15 ½

_Rank: _Adept

_Homeland:_ Snowpoint City, Sinnoh.

**Well, that's it for now. There will be more, these are just pre-introductory ones. And Yeah, I have not included Black and white characters for now. I will, soon, because most of them have not fully been revealed yet. ( Like Bianca has just 2 Pokemon right now.). The profs. Will also be introduced eventually. Tell ya what. After writing about 4-5 chapters, I will give a FULL introduction of all the characters ( except the mystery ones). Well, that's it for now. Please Review, they mean a lot and those are what that keep me going. Sorry if the Intros seemed Short, The actual story chapters will be longer.**

**~ Me**


	2. Chapter 2: New Beginnings

**Okay, Here it is Guys, The Second Chapter to my First Fanfiction. I tried to make it as Long as Possible, Given The little Time I am getting due to the load of multiple coaching classes and School. Good Thing I type fast. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.( Except my house and stuff) Every one of my stories ( More like the only one rite now) is created purely out of Fiction and imagination.**

**That aside, on with the Thanks.**

**A-Gallade- It's EgoShipping, I did that because the Shipping really hasn't bloomed yet. And Yeah I wanted May to be older than Dawn, Ash and Gary, but still I think I got overboard. And Thanks for the compliment. :)**

**XashXDawnX: Thanks. You won't be Disappointed.**

**JAM: Yeah, Tracey had only three, So I thought of Giving him one That he'd like most.**

**Fanfic Meister: I really don't know if it will be good or not. But Thanks for your Vote of Confidence. I'll try to live up to it.**

**AngelCutepie: Thanks, I tried my best at what little time I could Get. I hope this won't be as short as the previous one.**

**Karla014: Oh it is One. It's definitely Pearlshipping now, I got a PM from one of my friends who suggested it.**

**Ash and Dawn 4 Eva:Thanks. I'll try to live up to expectations... ;)**

**AshKetchum: Thanks. Wow, there are a lot of Pearlshippers out there.**

**Jhoto: Thanks for the Kind words.**

**ASHHHH: Yeah , It is. Thanks.**

**Lianar: Here it is, An Update. Hope ya like it ;) **

**Mr. No Name: This is it then, This is the real thing. Thanks.**

**Harley0990: Thanks**

**AuRA Within: Thanks and again. Wow, double time eh?**

**What: Yes he is, an admirable one, I might add.**

**Espeon: Thanks , I hope you like this one too. **

**Reviewer No. Infinity: Nope, a beginner. Thanks for the thought anyways.**

**King Chappa: No I am not from England. Sorry . And my English is good? Seriously? I think it's kindy crappy.**

**A complete :Thanks**

**Zane Ketchum 007: Thanks, here it is, FINALLY.**

**Jake09: I'm glad you liked my story. I would try Death Note, but I don't know what it is :/. So, sorry. :(.**

**80k stories lover: Uh... Thanks, I guess?**

**Well, those were the Ones I got when I started writing this one. Thanks to other reviewers too. ;) And yeah, I appreciate the reviews very much, but if you can, please submit a signed one. I want to thank you guys properly.**

**The descriptions in this story are long, but they cannot be skipped because they are also very important. This is a really boring chapter because Ash just came into the Academy and does not know anything about it yet. But don't give up on this yet. The next chapter will be better as it involves Ash's experiences in the Academy. So basically this a crappy chapter that's a must to understand the later part of the story. **

**Also, I am very bad at describing clothes . All the people who are Coordinators in the real series have their Contest dresses on. ( Like Dawn, Kenny, Ursula etc.)**

**Also,don't get surprised if ya read something like,'He lifted up the 100 pound rock and threw it at his opponent.' Yeah, they can do this kinda stuff... Aura enhancement, Full Body or Partial.**

It was a beautiful morning. The Skies were overcast, the gentle breeze was soothing and Starlys were chirping everywhere. One particular Starly got lost from its flock, and found its way towards a Gigantically Huge marble white structure with silver window panes and one way mirrors. The Building was so white, it appeared to be emanating it's own faint glow. The doors, which were made of the same silvery metal as the window panes were castle styled. So, they were more like Bridges . The door to the entrance was the largest, and the others were scattered on all sides of the castle.

Suddenly , the entrance door creaked and started lowering itself by the chains attached to it's inward side. The Starly glanced who was over it.

He found that he was a young man, around 14 dressed in a black shirt with yellow stripes on and blue jeans. He had two blue gloves on , made to transmit Aura, but they looked a little different to the Starly, who had seen many of their kind before. He was also armed with a sword at his back. On his shoulder was a yellow mouse, and both of them had the same confident expression. As the Starly was looking at him, he found his flock flying right over the young man's head. He dashed to catch up to his Flockmates.

Meanwhile, The young man, walked forward and entered the Academy,ready to have his battle, but what he saw there was beyond his eyes belief.

He had just entered a circular field, kinda like a Colosseum but way huger. It was surrounded, not by chairs but doors, hundreds of them. At the top there was a transparent dome, filtering light downwards to the center of the Field, which was in fact a Battlefield. A Circular Path , beginning from bottom had gone upwards, crossing every door on its way. Every door had a number on it, the young man presumed it was how the residents here navigated.

" I AM ASH KETCHUM! " The young man yelled. " I CHALLENGE THE EXAMINER TO A BATTLE TO GAIN ENTRANCE INTO THE ACADEMY!"

The young man known as Ash's voice echoed through the Colosseum. After some time, Door number nine opened up and out of it came a slightly tanned bald man with a long beard. His eyes were black slits and he himself was very tall.

" I see Ash, I accept your challenge, and uh.., keep it down a bit, the Seniors are sleeping... " The man chuckled.

" Sleeping?" Ash asked. " It's 6 in the evening"

"You'll understand." He smiled.

" Are you the examiner?" Ash questioned.

"Indeed I am. I am Spencer, your examiner. And I know about you. From Elder Oak, he speaks a lot of you ." Spencer smiled. Ash rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.

" So, he must have bragged about my greatness and skill. " Ash bragged.

" Not really. He told me that you are very inexperienced and may be unworthy of being in the Academy and also not to hold back a bit when I battle you just because you know him. " Spencer said. Ash's jaw fell to the ground, but it regained its posture after he heard the word "Battle".

" Alright, let's do it. Pokemon or Aura?" Ash asked punching the air.

" I'd say both. " Spencer smiled. Ash gaped, surprised.

" Both? Well, As you wish," Ash smirked. "But I'm not going easy. C'mon Pikachu, let's get em! " Ash cheered.

Spencer merely smirked. This kid's got spunk... He threw out a Pokeball, which released a Shiftry. It roared with might as he prepared for battle alongside his trainer.

" Okay, Shiftry, let's finish this, fast. " Spencer smiled at his companion, Shiftry. It smirked back with an evil expression.

Both of them walked onto the center of the huge Colosseum. Ash wondered how the greenhouse like light filtering from above, was able to fit perfectly into the rectangular Battlefield. Regardless, it gave it a beautiful view. Both Spencer and Ash stood on each other's opposite sides, and got into their positions.

" OK I'm Read- " Ash couldn't finish his word, as he was quickly pinned to the ground by none other than Spencer, who moved so fast it appeared like a blur. Ash, baffled, wondered how he got across a 15000 sq foot battlefield from one end to the other so fast.

" Owww! That hurt. Hey, you could have at-least waited till I'm done. " Ash whined. Spencer released him, but frowned.

" In a real battle, your opponent won't wait until you finish say the word." Spencer smirked at a newfound Idea. A little push might help... "Strange, Elder Oak said you were much more strong than this. Have you been slacking? "

" What? I Have Not!" Ash argued. Dad was his sensitive side.

" Prove it." Spencer said menacingly.

Ash lunged for Spencer's head, but missed as Spencer suddenly appeared behind him and gave a chop to his backside. Ash repeated it several times and failed to catch even a hair of Spencer's beard.

" C'mon Ash, give up and return to Prof. Oak. You are not cut out for this." Spencer continued to mock him. Ash's temper was rising.

Ash tried a different approach. He took out his sword from it's sheath and muttered something. The Blade got surrounded by a blueish light. He thrust it into the ground and forced his Aura into it. It produced a shock wave, which made the earth tremble. Unfortunately, Spencer just levitated himself and so did Shiftry, and the Earthquake was ineffective. Instead, it made Pikachu and Ash lose their balance and fall.

"You have to use every one of your seven senses to defeat me, Ash, now get Up! " Spencer cried.

Ash slowly got up and went over what Spencer had told him. Then suddenly with a click he understood what was wrong.

" Pikachu, use thunderbolt on the whole field! " As he said this, he conjured up a blue shield around him, and started looking very hard at Spencer. Pikachu released a powerful wave of electricity surging through the field. Ash was protected from the waves because of his shield, but Spencer...

As expected, he disappeared again, but the moment he did, Ash closed his eyes and listened. He could hear footsteps, carefully guided footsteps.

He nodded towards Pikachu without opening his eyes. He knew Spencer was trying to avoid Pikachu's shocks so bad, he wasn't concentrating on what Ash was up to. Either that, or Spencer just thought that Ash would do something stupid again.

Suddenly, he sensed a movement to his right. It was as if Spencer had tapped the ground too hard while running, and given Ash the opportunity, he slashed the air with the blade at lightning speed. After a few seconds a few white strands of hair fell from where the Blade had struck. Ash had caught Spencer, and cut off a few of his beard hair to prove so.

"There I proved it!" Ash cried.

" Well done Ash. I see you followed my advice. Yes, apart from your five senses, you have two more. Those are your Pokemon and your Aura. Without them, you cannot defeat any Aura Sage." Spencer smiled, then grew serious. "But unfortunately, that is just not enough to beat me. " Spencer smiled, and with just a wave of his finger escaped an Aura wave. It crashed into Ash and knocked him down. Ash groaned in pain. The impact was strong.

" That's quite enough now." Spencer smiled " You pass the test." .

Ash got up, dumbstruck, and then suddenly screamed with joy. Although he did not expect it to be so short, he was happy that he had passed the exam.

Once his screaming was over, he wondered why Spencer didn't just surround himself with an Aura shield too. It would have given Spencer the opportunity to strike Ash before he did. While Ash was thinking, Spencer examined the blade Ash was wielding.

It was shaped like a regular sword, except that it had spikes above the hilt and had a silver strip going right between the blade. It was not silver when Ash was fighting. But it had turned Blue due to the Aura imbued within it.*1

" Ash, who gave you that Blade? " Spencer asked curiously.

" I don't know... " The boy said earnestly. Ash only knew one thing about the blade that it sometimes talked to him. Well, more like whispered some things. But, Spencer would probably crack up at that so, he shut up.

"Dad said he found it at my previous house, so it must have belonged to my mom or my real Dad " The brave boy spoke out.

" I see... Strange,...very Strange... " Spencer was lost in thought until something clicked in his mind.

"Dad? Who's he? " Spencer asked.

"Why Elder Oak Of course. He is my adoptive Father. " Ash told matter of factly.

" Hmm... Well, no time to worry about it now, you must hurry, it's almost dinner time and you don't wanna miss it. " Spencer smiled. Of course he knew that, Elder Oak was a very good friend of his. He had asked the question for a different reason...*2

" Wha-? But what about my stuff? And what's my room and why is- "

" Your room is No.16. It's behind the 5th door on the Victory Road. Your Lodgings and luggage will be transported there automatically. Now hurry and get to the Auditorium, it's on the same floor. " Spencer urged.

" Wha-? My room is an Audi? What are yo-" Ash blabbered on.

" You'll see when you get there, Ash " Spencer sighed. He was getting tired of the Boy's slow mind.

" A-Alright, but what's the Victory Road?" Ash asked, gaining control after Spencer's sigh.

" This colossal hall, is called the Atrium, and the circular path that is going to to top of the Atrium, is called the Victory Road."

Ash nodded and started walking the 'Victory Road', until he reached door 5. He opened it and felt how heavy and armored it was.

Spencer smiled. "_He isn't perfect yet, as he never did defeat me. But I can sense that spark in Ash. The kind I have never felt since...Him _"

Back with Ash, the moment he was in, someone grabbed his hand and started dragging him forward with surprising strength, all the while scolding him.

" -for over an hour now. Do you even know how difficult it is to find you in this big a place. " The person was saying.

" Uh, ma'am , I think you got the wrong person. " Ash sweat-dropped. He was having a Deja vu.

The person stopped. She was an Old Lady, in her early fifties. She had pale skin with a black suit, a white jacket on top of it and a brown scarf. Her expression was like one of those very strict Math teachers. Although she looked old, she had a surprisingly strong grip on Ash's arm.

" Oh- Terribly sorry, I thought you were Ritchie. And you both look very much alike. Are you his Brother?" The Lady asked, the feeling of shame quickly abandoning her.

" It's alright ma'am. Dad used to that all the time time with us, and Gary used to laugh his head off. So, I think I know which Ritchie you're talking about. " Ash chuckled. " I am Ash Ketchum. I just got into the Academy "

" So you are Elder Oak's Adoptive Son..." The lady spoke out when something suddenly hit her.

"Oh, no! I forgot to attend the new children's meet. Well, I must be going now. Follow this path and you will reach the Audi. Now get to it, kid. " Bertha took off. Ash sweatdropped at her sudden departure.

Now that she was gone, Ash looked at the corridor properly. It was made of white marble too, and the corridors were strangely lit up, without any appliances or lamps. On sides were again doors, numbered ones, but they were smaller than the Atrium ones. Ash walked forward until he reached Room no. 16.

It was a normal room, sure it was HUGE for just one person but it wasn't set up as Gloriously as the other things in the castle. It just looked like another classic Boy's room. Once Ash searched it, he found out that he had roommates too, because there were 5 beds instead of just 1. The room had a large window which showed that Ash was just 200 ft above the ground.

Ash suddenly remembered what Spencer had told him. Well, what he remembered was_ "you must hurry, it's almost dinner time and you don't wanna miss it. " _But what the heck.

Ash dashed outside the room slamming the door behind him. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Finally, he reached the end of the corridor, which was nothing more than a huge door. Ash was wondering how he'd open it when he lay his palm on the door. Instantly, the door started swinging backwards and Ash slightly jumped.

Ash entered the Hall. It was a beautiful place, the ceiling was high, there were decorations everywhere, from ornate lamps to silver gargoyles to High fountains, heck, it was more like a really large Marriage hall. The Auditorium had several exits, and a teacher's Table at the North-Side of the hall. There were circular tables everywhere, with ten chairs around them each. There were golden, light emitting chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and lamps on the hall walls.

But all this Ash didn't notice. He was too petrified to do so. Here in this Golden Hall of the Academy, Ash found himself being stared at by thousands of pairs of eyes. And it didn't help as he was the only one to come through a 30ft high door. Apparently, Ash was VERY late and this was something that was really unusual here.

" Where were you? You're late! " Ash heard a shrill voice split his ears. Strangely enough, it came from all sides.

" Uh you see... I am a new student and I kinda got hung up checking out my room. And um... I... I just passed the exam, Yeah..so.. I was already late now, wasn't I. " Ash rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. A few students giggled at his child-like actions.

" Alright then, but don't be late again. The New Children's Meet is going to start soon. " The shrill voice spoke out again.

" Why do I have the feeling she wasn't listening to me... " Ash mumbled as he started looking around for an unoccupied seat.

Suddenly, two very familiar faces caught his eye. They appeared to be searching for him but when they didn't they started talking to each other. He dashed towards them with enthusiasm. He could also sense a figure, a little distance from where they were standing but he hardly cared.

One of the two guys looked just like Ash, except brown hair and a calmer expression. He too had a Pikachu perked up on his shoulders. Except his Pikachu had three strands of hair Poking out of his head. The boy was dressed in a completely green dress with a blue vest on. He was taller than Ash was too.

The other was in a black half sleeves and purple jeans. He had brown hair which were spiked in a front-hood style. Also he wore a yin-yang shaped blue and green pendant.

Ash struggled his way towards them, then he tackled both of them down from behind while they were talking. After that he just burst out laughing on the floor, while he watched both of them struggling on the floor, with their faces in their food trays. Gary managed to free his head from the noodle bowl, a couple of noodles still dangling from his nostrils.

" Whoa! Who was that? Was it you, Barry. I swear someday I'm gonna- " Gary stopped Mid-sentence when he saw who had actually did that bullstrike.

" Surprised? " Ash smirked.

" Very. " Gary chuckled.

They walked forward and hugged each other.

" It has been far too long li'l bro. " Gary was weeping like a girl on Ash's shoulders.

" It has only been a year you know, and could we stop this, people will get the wrong idea. Besides, you're getting noodles on my shirt.. " Ash smiled. Gary stopped his fake-tears and slapped him across the back. Ash yelped. His plan had worked.

" And that's for tackling us. " Gary grinned. Ash was SO gullible.

" Hey! You caught me off guard " Ash whined.

" I am starting to feel a little left out here. " Ritchie smirked from beside Gary. "So, how've you been Ash? I haven't seen you for what? Two years? "

" Well, I don't know how I have been, but I'm starved right now. What have you got to eat around here? " Ash questioned.

" Oh, just about everything. " Gary smiled.

Ash dashed again toward the food table with Ritchie and Gary sighing behind him. Ash brought back a tray full of different things, from lobster to noodles to rice-cakes. He started gobbling them all up and talking to Gary and Ritchie. Gary puked at his eating habits. Again. Only now Ash noticed that there was another boy standing beside them.

The other boy was Blond and had orange eyes. He wore an orange striped shirt and gray pants.

" So, Ash how'd you get into the Academy? " Ritchie asked.

" Yeah, I thought you'd fail. " Gary added.

" Very funny. I flunked my entrance exam, but the examiner let me in anyways. " Ash explained

" Uh huh. I see, so you lost. Who was the examiner anyways." Ritchie said while Gary took a sip from his glass.

" Some guy named Spencer. He- " Gary choked on his drink and Ritchie's eyes widened.

" You had SPENCER? " All three of them, blond including, yelled in unison.

" Yeah, why? " Ash asked.

" Dude, Spencer is one of the Elites, like Lance. He only examines those he deems worthy. No wonder you lost. You wouldn't be able to touch him at your level. " Gary explained.

" But Gary, he must have seen something in Ash to just let him in. Spencer never makes a wrong decision." Ritchie argued.

A snort was heard some distance from them. It belonged to the same mysterious figure Ash had overlooked earlier.

" Or, he grew tired of your weak moves and decided to just pass you, because you are the Headmaster's kid. Face it, you were never a challenge to him, only a burden. He couldn't fail you, but was getting bored of you . So don't kid yourselves " The figure jeered.

He was a purple haired guy, with a constant shadow on his eyes that gave him a dangerous look. He wore a blue vest and gray pants.

" Just what do you mean, Paul? " Ritchie didn't like his friends getting insulted.

Ritchie was getting into a battle position. Ash saw this and stopped him. Ash glared at this new stranger, who smirked and walked off, leaving a fuming Gary.

" Jerk... Who does he think he is anyways. " Ritchie was mumbling.

Gary just kept quiet. He knew the moment he opened his mouth, he would hurl insults at Paul. They had been rivals since Gary joined the Academy. And let's just say, they were not on very good terms. Suddenly, the blond guy, who had been bursting to say something until now, spoke up.

" Who he is! Only the most powerful Aura Mage in this Academy! Paul's like, number one in everything! " The Blond guy said. He was waving his arms up and down, as if to defend his idol from the insults of his friends.

" But Barry, you heard how he talked to Ash! He is a complete jerk who doesn't care about anything but him. Not even his Pokemon.. He may be the most powerful among the students, but he is certainly not one to make friends with. " Ritchie gritted his teeth. Gary twitched when Ritchie said 'Most Powerful'

" Well, Ash, I don't know who you are, but since you're now a rival of Paul's you are a rival of me. So c'mon let's have at it, one on one fight. What do ya say? " Barry said flailing his fists, unfortunately, all three of them were lost in thought and his comment was ignored.

Ash was the most confused._ Great, I'm not here ten freaking minutes and I have already made an enemy. I wonder if he was right though..._

"Huh? Did'cha say something Barry?" Ash asked, snapping out of his daze.

"Yeah, I said-" Barry was interrupted by Gary.

" Well no use trying to ponder over what's gone. Let's introduce you to the others. " Gary spoke suddenly. He had not noticed Barry speaking. As he was talking, Barry was mumbling irritatedly, obviously annoyed at Gary's interruption.

" Yeah that'll be cool. Let's do it. " Ash agreed, giving Barry weird looks.

Gary and Ritchie led him to who knows where. Barry waved them his goodbye, as he said he had to meet someone. The hall was circular, so Ash had no Idea how they knew where to go. Gary saw the confused expression on his face and smiled.

" It's one of the things they teach us. To recognize and sense the Aura of others, so that we may find them in a pinch. " Gary explained. Ash's eyes were sparkling with enthusiasm. How much would he learn here?

" Okay Ash, we're here. " Gary said out. They were at a kind of circular table, like the ones they have in debates and stuff.

" Guys, I'd like you to meet Ash, a childhood friend of Ritchie and my brother. " Gary announced to the group of teenagers sitting at the table. Gary never considered Ash his Adoptive brother. To him, he was the real sibling Gary never had.

Ash had a good look of the gang. Gary started introducing, more like advertising all of them one by one.

"This one here is Conway, a nerdy guy from my Astronomy class. He is a nice fellow if you get to know him, but you don't wanna hear one of his Lectures because they never end... " Gary trailed off. He was hit my a punch in the head, by none other than Conway himself.

He saw a guy with spectacles on and dark-green hair. He wore a green shirt and blue jeans with sandals. His Aura felt like a clever and strategic kind to Ash.

" It is nice to meet you Ash. I see that you have a Pikachu." Conway got a certain gleam in his eye that Ash didn't like. "Did you know that Pikachus can learn a move called Electric ball. You should teach it that, it could help you in a serious battle.. And yeah also, Pikachu tend to have an advantage over flyi-"

He was interrupted by Gary clearing his throat loudly. Conway sat back in his chair, glaring at Gary for interrupting him. It seems Gary liked doing that.

" Next up is Kenny. He is basically a guy we met when I met Conway and Dawn. Now this guy is someone you don't wanna cross when he's practicing his magic. You would probably not survive to see the end... " Gary shivered at an unseen memory. He was welcomed to the real world by a punch in the gut.

Kenny was a red haired kid with a totally green dress that looked like it used to be Napoleon's. Ash sensed a suspicious and careful Aura from him. But he also sensed his ambitious and determined one.

" Quiet fool! I told you that was an accident and I'm still trying to perfect it." Kenny growled and then turned to Ash "And Hi Ash! Are you a Mage? You know, I can do magic too! I got this cool new move from Tracey and I'm still trying to perfect it, and it involves going into Aura Armor mode and then- " Once again , Gary was the one to interrupt Kenny.

" Anyways, I'm sure you know the rest of the boys don'cha Ash. " Gary winked.

Indeed Ash did. The only two remaining were a tall guy with tanned skin and slits for eyes. Ash could, as always sense his compassionate Aura. The other one was a rather short guy green hair and matching eyes. Ash could sense the caring Aura he emitted. How could he forget the guy who taught him how to treat his Pokemon, and the guy who Taught his Pokemon various moves.

" Hey Ash. " Brock/ Drew said in unison.

" Hi There! How have you guys been!'' Ash smiled. He then looked at Drew head to toe with a frown. "And Drew, you've gotten shorter. " Ash smirked. Drew merely flicked his hair.

" Who needs height when I have the looks. " Drew said flicking his hair.

" Yeah, but just looks aren't gonna get you May, supposing you even had them that is," Gary smirked. Drew started blushing and panicking. Ash wondered why all of them chuckled. _Must be a Gary thing_.

" Oh well, the girls are gonna be here soon. They were called by Prof. Ivy ." Gary shifted uncomfortably at what Drew had said. Apparently, he had just remembered something... Kenny's eyes narrowed at him. Something didn't seem right.

Drew sweatdropped at the sulking Brock, who sat in a corner with with a black aura surrounding him. "Nothing personal Brocko, just a statement."

Even as he finished speaking, the girls arrived, and they... looked angry... One of them had her face as red as her hair. Gary got more uncomfortable.

" GARY! You were the one who put the deodorant in Prof. Ivy's Vileplum flower ! And it was US who got the scolding!" The red haired girl screamed at Gary and was about to lunge for his throat when she noticed Ash.

" What the- ASH WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Misty yelled in her frustration with Gary. Ash cringed and tried hiding behind Ritchie.

" What did I do? Gee... Sorry for being here!" Ash squeaked nervously. Misty somewhat calmed down at how she was scaring everybody. Especially Dawn.

" *cough* I mean, nice to see you Ash. Gary here, told me you're gonna come soon. " She gave a ghostly glare towards Gary, who was pretty much sweating bullets.

" Uh... Yeah. It was a piece of cake. Uh... Can we talk about this later, you seem to be in a bad mood... " Ash was sweating just as much as Gary. They both knew Misty well, and they knew what she could do during one of her tempers.

" Uh Ash, I'm really not gonna hang around to intro the girls, so, eh.. you're on your own. " With that, Gary dashed in the opposite direction from where Misty was standing who followed him, with an expression that said, ' I'M GONNA OBLITERATE YOU'.

Ash sweatdropped at his childhood companions. Ritchie, who was unaffected by what just happened, was the one introducing now,

" Kay Ash, I really don't know how to do this, So I'm just gonna say their names, this is Dawn, May and Zoey. " Ritchie said pointing at the four girls.

Dawn was a blue haired girl with a completely pink dress and a hair clips on. Ash sensed her Aura to be creative, and talented, yet feeble. She smiling up at Ash.

May was a brunette with standard red tank top and purple cycling shorts. Ash sensed her Aura to be fun-loving, strong and supportive. Drew got a certain expression on his face, that was hard to describe, and his Aura pattern suddenly changed.

Zoey was a girl with red hair, red eyes and white overcoat and red pants. Ash sensed her Aura to be confident , Careful and dominative. Now, Zoey was not smiling. Instead, she was looking at Ash with distrust radiating from her.

" Who ARE you?" Zoey said, with a little more force than needed...

" Uh... Hi! I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. A friend of Ritchie and Gary's brother." Ash said nervously. Zoey was quite the intimidating one.

She seemed to go along with that, at the moment, because her Aura relaxed a bit. Ash was glad it did. May, being the confident one, spoke first.

" Hi Ash! Drew and Misty spoke a lot about you, and it's great to meet ya at last!" May slapped Ash's poor backside, the force of which knocked Ash forward. May didn't seem to have much idea on how powerful she was. She quickly withdrew her hand, realizing her mistake and then went over to sit beside Drew. Now came Dawn's turn, as May nudged her to speak.

" Uh... Hi , I'm Dawn Berlitz. It's.. nice to meet you, Ash. Gary told me that you had a Quilava too " Dawn spoke softly. Ash had to strain his ears to hear that. May sighed, Dawn was slow to warm up to strangers.

" QUILAVA!" Ash yelled as he suddenly remembered something, and Dawn, scared out of her wits, jumped up a foot, while Zoey hardened her glared at Ash. The guys were snickering from a distance.

" Uh.. Sorry about that, Dawn, I just remembered that my Quilava and other friends are still at Dad's ranch and I need to get them transferred here." Ash smiled sheepishly, Dawn just nodded her acceptance of the apology. Zoey didn't however. She stepped forward, with an expression of boldness plastered on her face.

" I am Zoey Nozomi, where I'm from is none of your business, and I can very well say that I don't trust you." Zoey seethed. Ash scaring Dawn by mistake seemed to have ticked her off.

" Okayyyy." It was an awkward moment for Ash when she just blurt that out to his face. Dawn was looking up at her,surprised at her rudeness.

_In the background, a little distance away, were Ritchie, Drew and Brock. They had backed out of the conversation once May had started speaking._

" Hmm... She's got Paul's temper AND his attitude. Wouldn't it be cool if they got together?" Ritchie smirked. They Both looked at each other.

" Naahh..."

_Back with Ash's misery..._

" Uh... Thanks." Ash said nervously.

Zoey was about to speak something when Dawn tugged at her, shaking her head. Zoey stormed off towards Drew and Ritchie who were making fun of her. They're gonna have a hell of a time dealing with her...

" I'm sorry for my friend's behavior. She's a bit distrusting of strangers, especially in these times." Dawn apologized. _A bit?_

" Nah~ it's fine. She'll get used to me." Ash grinned at them.

" Well, Dawn, Ima gonna go see Drew, see ya later!" May said as she dashed towards Drew, who was fearing her impact.

_No May Don't Leave! _Were Dawn's thoughts as she was left with the stranger. She could hear Drew groan as May slammed into him, unable to stop running.

" Hmmm... I wonder where Gary went... I sure hope Misty spares the bones..." Ash began to worry about his friend. He had seen Misty tear apart a Gyarados in two when she was in one of her rages resulting in Gary giving her a very appropriate nickname.

" She wasn't always like this, you know..." Dawn suddenly spoke out. Ash snapped out of his thoughts.

" Huh?" Ash asked, dumbfounded.

" I mean, Zoey." Dawn answered his question.

" Oh," Ash said. That's right, as far as Ash knew, Misty was always quick tempered.

" Zoey's had a rough childhood, and that's why she's so outspoken and distrusting on new people.

Dawn had NO Idea what she was doing. She had never told anyone about Zoey's and her past to anyone, and here she was dictating it to a complete stranger.

" Something happened between you guys, rite?" Ash guessed.

"Yeah, more like between our families" Dawn sounded sad. " You see, my father wa-"

**BANG! **A sound was heard North of the hall, beyond the walls which shook with the voice. It was so loud that it sounded above all the chatting. The whole Audi fell silent at this development.

The Teachers, who were sitting at a levitated structure near the headmaster,looked alarmed.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in the Auditorium.

_He's here... He must not unlock it... NO... I Sense he has not unlocked it yet, he doesn't even know about it yet... Let us leave, for now... We shall strike again when we complete the ritual..._

The Students started Panicking and running around the place. The Pokemon got scared and started releasing their attacks in every direction. Ash was frantically searching around for his friends. The students were crashing into each other and the attacks of the Pokemon kept hitting somebody or colliding with each other to cause explosions. Prof. Oak, saw this from the Headmaster's chair in the Far North of the Auditorium. He stood up, and raised his hands in a prophetical manner at students and Pokemon. A blue energy filled up their bodies, calming their every nerve.

Instantly Ash felt all his feelings of fear disappear. He looked around and saw that other students were feeling it too. He knew what it was. Oak's nature manipulation. He beamed at Ash's smile. Ash resumed searching for his friends.

"Calm down, students and Pokemon" Prof. Oak's voice sounded magnified." There is no need of panicking, I and Elder Brandon will sort this out. Go back to your dorm rooms, it will be safer there. "

Ash finally found his friends, they were huddled up in a bunch. Barry was yelling about fining the people responsible for the crash, Gary seemed to be comforting other students and Dawn appeared to be crying, with Zoey and May trying to comfort her. Gary assembled the group and led them to corridor 5.

_Meanwhile, with the professors._

" They're here, in Sinnoh. We have to to take security measures. I will go inform the Order ." Elder Oak told the Teacher's council.

" But my liege, you know that even if we somehow defeat his followers, we're still no match for him. " Lance pointed out.

" I know, but the least we can do is hold off until the Oracle is informed. " The aging Elder said. " We have a little time, till they complete this ritual of theirs. And the Oracle is still nowhere to be found..."

_Meanwhile at Ash's side._

Ash and the group were retreating into the Corridor 5, from where Ash had entered. All their rooms were apparently on the same corridor. Gary nagging Elder Oak, undoubtedly. As they entered into the Corridor, Ash heard a kind of whisper, coming from his blade again, but he shrugged it off at the moment.

Now was not the time to think about that, it was his first day at school! His mind was too busy taking in stuff. While Gary was explaining to him the various classes they have together, Ash was thinking of the many new adventures he would have.

_All the people here seem very nice. Maybe I'll find something about my mother here too... And somethings up with Dawn and Zoey, I can't help having the feeling that my mother's fate is somehow related to their past. Well, I'm gonna talk to them... Tomorrow._

_Back at Teachers_

" WAIT." Elder Oak yelped at the other teachers. " We never got to have the New Children's Meet!" Bertha looked aghast. After all she had been through.*3

" Oh bother..." She sighed.

" Well, there's nothing to it," Oak stated. "We'll do it tomorrow, when the atmosphere will be calmer. You all can go to sleep now, we'll check the crash in the Infirmary..." Oak stated.

All of the teachers went to their respective rooms In the Staff Dorm. Three remained, however, Lance, Oak and Brandon.

" My liege, you know we don't need to check the Infirmary. We already know what it was..." Lance was saying.

" Indeed, but why the Infirmary..." Elder Brandon began thinking. Oak was thinking too, about his past memories with the Dark Lord... Suddenly, Oak's face grew as white as milk, something had suddenly hit him. A memory, the past, it all fell into place now.

" Oh no... Please tell me that's not true..." Oak whispered to himself.

**I personally think this is a very crappy chapter. Go on, say it. I don't mind. It is not at all interesting and very tiring. BUT don't give up on this story yet. Now that Ash is in the Academy and most of the characters have made their debuts, I guarantee that the next chapter will get better.**

***1 Ash's sword resembles the Blade of Olympus from the God of War III. Google it, it will be helpful imagining it.**

***2 Spencer had asked to confirm Ash's relationship with Oak. He found the Bond to be a very close one.**

***3 For those of you who don't know, although I doubt there are any, New Children's meet is a dreadful phase in a Freshman's school where he gets introduced in front of the whole school, which obviously means that the seniors would recognize who to pick on.**

**Dont hit me! I know this is a romance fic and I Haven't really put any fluff in it yet but that's just because it's the first chapter.**

**I'd also like a favor guys, if you don't mind... Can you tell me who, In this story OOC. I know, all of them are slightly , I just wanna know the major ones. And yeah, I know May is li'l OOC, I made her so, but that's a talk for another chapter.**

**Can you guess who Ash's real dad would be? Remember, think out of the box !**

**Please PM me if you don't understand something. Anything would be fine. **

**As always, please review, they mean a lot and also help me improve stuff**


	3. Chapter 3: Era of the First Day Part I

_**Sorry for the late work guys, I was kinda busy. Anyways, here it is. Special thanks to Porcelaindollxx who spent her time correcting all this.**_

_**As promised, this chapter will be better, at least I hope it will. :P**_

_**And thank you reviewers, according to Pokemon Kariokemon in the last review , I can't respond to reviews in a story chapter, so I'm doin it manually. :) \**_

_**Disclaimer: I own Pokemon in an alternate universe of my imagination. But unfortunately I don't own it in this one.**_

_A man in maroon robes with shadows covering his eyes was sitting in a king sized chair._

" _M-My Lord, I apologize we were u-unsuccessful .. The thing you had asked for isn't at the Academy... B-But the b-boy has re-recently enrolled, and …. o-our forces ar-are too weak at the moment to-to deal with all the professors there." A figure spoke in a trembling voice. He was bowing facing the robed figure._

" _What are you implying..." The seated man seethed._

_A flash of red light and a scream of pain. That was all that could be heard in the darkness of that night..._

We find Ash, in front of the bathroom door, half naked with a towel wrapped around him. And he, looked seriously pissed off.

"GARY! OPEN UP! YOU HAVE BEEN IN THERE FOR 2 HOURS ALREADY!" Ash yelled in fury.

"Okay , okay, geez," Gary yelled back from inside the bathroom. Ash could hear him packing up.

Ash was in Room no. 16 of the 5th corridor. Apparently, that was the Junior Boys Corridor. All the Boys to ages 20 had rooms in this corridor. Ash had heard all this from Gary, who had led the group back to Corridor 5 last night.

Ash had discovered that he had been right. Gary had in fact been nagging Elder Oak which is the reason why Gary, Drew, Ritchie, Ash, and Brock ended up being roommates. Conway and Kenny had the room beside them, that is, room no. 15. The Girls, to Gary's great dismay, had the Corridor 6.

The Bathroom door opened up, and it revealed Gary in a bathrobe, completely dry with a bunch of manga comics in hand. Ash had a dumbstruck look on his face.

"Gary! I was waiting for two hours and all you were doing was reading those things!" Ash yelled in frustration. Gary sweat dropped and replied nervously.

"Well, I did take a bath, but you didn't knock when I was finished, so I started reading them, and then I got too much into the part where Aoi and Pichu-"

"Whatever, I have to take a bath now." Ash softened his face. He wanted Gary to do something. "Listen uh... Gary, could you do something for me?" Gary nodded suspiciously.

"Well, I want you to transfer my Pokemon from Dad's ranch to the Reserve building here..." Ash told Gary whose face fell.

"Well, alright, but you're gonna owe me one," Gary warned. Ash smirked his approval. Pikachu jumped down from Ash's shoulders.

"What? You wanna go and visit our friends, buddy?" Ash asked the cooing rodent. It nodded and leaped up Gary's shoulders.

Gary went out of the room, towards the Atrium. Ash had no idea where the Reserve lab was. But since Gary had been snooping around this Academy since childhood, he seemed to know his way around.

The topic about the transfer of his Pokemon reminded Ash of the 'Quilava' incident yesterday. Dawn seemed to be hiding something... something relative to why she was silent all the time. He had to confront Dawn and Zoey about their past. But, not today, because today, Ash had reserved for the different classes he'd be experiencing. Gary had promised him the grand tour.

The other guys had gone for a walk around the Academy Grounds. Ash wanted to go too, but Gary had stopped him, saying that to access anything in the Academy, you needed an ID proof. It was a sort of ID Card with all your data on it. Gary had told him that he would soon receive his pass, but till then, he needed to stick by one of the guys. Yesterday, they had modified the system of the room so that Ash could open it without a pass but now... He shivered at the thought of being locked out of his own room.

After a while, Gary returned, with a gleeful expression on his face, Ash guessed his work was done. By now Ash was fully dressed, in a surprising duplicate of yesterday's clothes, complete with Icarus, Ash's blueish blade on his back.

"Where's Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"He decided to spend some time with your Pokemon," Gary said simply.

"Well, alright, now, let's go have that tour," Ash smiled.

"Well now, hold it right there, Ashy-boy, I did as I was told. Now pay up," Gary smirked.

"Alright, what do you want?" Ash asked nervously. Gary's demands could be very... Improper.

"Get on all fours, spin around three times, and bark in front of the girls." Gary smirked. Ash went as red as May's bandana.

"GARY!" Ash yelled as he threatened to kill him with Icarus.

"Ok, Ok, just kidding, Geez, you can be as bad as Misty sometimes." Gary cringed. Ash relaxed a bit.

" So, when is my tour gonna start?" Ash asked in anticipation.

"Right about..." A loud,deep voice was heard in the corridors.

"GET UP YOU SLOUCHES, ENOUGH SLEEPING! IT'S 9 IN THE MORNING AND YOU SHOULD BE IN YOUR CLASSES IN 5 MINUTES! UNDERSTOOD! "

Some feeble voices were heard mumbling "understood" sleepily.

"...Now..." Gary finished with his fingers in his ears.

"Is that the ... usual routine around here?" Ash asked, afraid of Gary's answer.

"USUAL! Hah! Nope. That's the daily routine! You can't even sleep in because of those damn speakers in the corridors yelling with Brandon's voice." Gary sighed. "Well, no time to worry about that now, your classes are starting in the next 10 mins."

Ash screamed with joy. So much that Kenny who had returned from his walk, burst into the room, with a battle position on. After explaining to him the whole thing, and calming him down, Gary led a hyperactive Ash to the Atrium. Kenny mumbled something and went back to his room to sleep in. Meanwhile, Ash and Gary went to the Corridor 10. They went inside the first room to the right. It was engraved on this door, clearly in gold, the words, _Aura Enhancement: Muscle._

"Your first class, will be Aura enhancement." Gary said.

"What's that?"

"You'll see."

"I will?" Ash questioned as he Gary inserted his ID card in the slot beside the door. Ash entered the large red walled room.

It looked more like a gym than a class. It had all sorts of weird things. There was a normal punching bag, and there was another beside it about ten times larger. There were weights, some of them as low as 10 kg while some as impossible as 1000 kg. Ash wondered why they had a more difficult instrument for each. There were a good number of students here. The huge room seemed to be divided into parts.

"Ah! You must be Ash; Gary's brother, right?" A buffed up, spiky blue haired guy spoke from the corner of the room. "I'm Brawly, and I am your strength enhancement instructor."

"Okay~... And what does that mean exactly?" Ash asked confused.

"Well, strength enhancement basically means strengthening your body to make it more durable and powerful," Brawly explained. Ash's eyes sparkled.

"Okay Brawly, I'm ready for my first lesson." Ash punched the air with his fists.

"That's the way! And please call me 'Sir', I may be young, but I AM your instructor, you know," Brawly smirked.

"Alright _sir, _what should I do first?" Ash asked amused.

"Try punching this. Here," Brawly led Ash to one of the normal punching bags. Ash was thinking what this would eventually lead to. One thing Ash knew however, it won't be pretty...

"Alright, here we go... One... two... three..." Ash yelled as he drew back his clenched fist and punched the bag with full force. Then it did something Ash would have never wanted...

It went up to a certain degree, and then it...rebounded. It came back with more force and hit Ash full in the face, knocking him down. Gary sweat dropped as Ash got up rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Uh... right. Maybe, we need to start with something simpler. How about this..." Brawly led them both to the weights. He handed Ash a 10 kg one.

Now this one Ash was confident he could lift. He walked up to it and lifted it up with full force. It got lifted alright, that is, before Ash lost his grip and the 10kg iron log fell on the poor boy's foot. Ash yelled in pain. As he was yelling his lungs out, he heard a giggle. He saw the entrance door and saw Dawn, Ursula and Kenny giggling. They withdrew their heads as soon as his gaze fell upon them. He went red.

Gary was laughing his head off while Ash was crying anime-tears. What an embarrassing moment for the helpless boy.

"Ash, clearly you need to improve a lot... We'll start with the simplest thing," Brawly said while shaking his head.

He led Ash to another corner of the room. There were big rocks lined up. Brawly handed Ash a heavy iron hammer.

"Now go, and reduce those rocks to soil," Brawly ordered.

"WHAT!" Ash exclaimed, "That would take hours. And I don't ev-"

"Just do it, Ash." Ash was interrupted by Gary. "Brawly doesn't do anything for no reason... well mostly..." He earned a glare from Brawly.

Ash sighed and set to work, hitting the rock's soft points with the hammer. It went ridiculously slow; the rock seemed to be harder than most of its kind. The parts Ash did break, he had to further grind under his hammer to turn them to soil. As it was getting incredibly slow for Brawly and Gary, they both left to go and practice with the heavier 'instruments' while Ash continued his hard labor.

After an hour or so, Ash tired out. He had disintegrated one fourth of the rock and was frankly proud of it. He lay down and closed his eyes. Brawly saw him resting and went over to him, with a strict face on.

"ASH! Stop slacking around and get to work!" Brawly yelled with fake force.

"Right!" Ash said, jumping to life, "but I'm tired...sir"

"Now what kind of talk is that! Do you want to learn muscle enhancement or not!" Brawly yelled.

"I do..." Ash said in a small voice.

"Then first, you gotta build up your body as well as stamina! If you try muscle enhancement at the state you're in you will ..." Brawly trailed off. He didn't want to remember the last time.

"I will?" Ash urged him to continue.

"You will die, Ash. Your body wouldn't be able to take the Aura's pressure, and eventually your nerves will burst out of excessive pressure of the Aura waves pulsing inside them." Brawly said darkly. Apparently, this had happened before. And Brawly had lost someone very dear to him.

Something about Brawly's tone told Ash that it was no time to lie around when he could be working. He immediately got back to work, breaking away the rock, bit by bit. Soon though, the bells rang out.

"Alright guys, time for your next class, continue tomorrow with the same passion!" Brawly yelled to his students. They all nodded and bowed, and then filed out of the room in a line.

Ash and Gary were near the Rock, Ash still working, and Gary still snickering. Ash had somehow managed to weather away half of the rock. He felt utterly tired, but he also felt his hands had become more rigid, and stronger because of the training. Brawly approached them.

"You too Ash, you can continue tomorrow, it's already half done and," Brawly smirked. "You've done fairly good, but still, you can do much better."

"Well, he IS my brother you know," Gary bragged. "And don't forget, I managed to break it all on my first day."

"Yeah, Yeah... We all know how _great_ you are. Now out, I need to lock the room." Brawly said. Ash and Gary got out and waved goodbye to Brawly, who locked the door and waved back.

"Well, time for the next class." Gary said.

"Gary, just out of curiosity, how many classed are there in junior division.?" Ash asked.

"Well, for you, there are about seven, involving the different fields." Gary replied indifferently.

Gary led Ash to the next door, which was brownish in color, with faint tints of wood polish. It had the letters _Aura Enhancement: Senses _engraved upon it in gold. Once again, Gary opened the door with the help of his ID proof and entered the room alongside Ash.

This room was completely different than the previous one. Sure it was weirder, but it was different. There was a dead fish, pinned to the ceiling, its hideous eye looking downwards. Directly underneath it was a tub full of water. There was a machine, which was shooting arrows, pointed ones, and a guy was avoiding them with ease. There was also a machine which was half the room's size and was shaped like a room within the class. A student was in the transparent cuboid like thing. He was blindfolded and was avoiding various blades slashing around in the machine. There weren't many students here, just about 12 or 13 of them and most of them looked like they were in their 20s.

"HI there! You're Ash aren't you," The purple haired guy with white shirt, purple trousers and matching eyes spoke out from the middle of the room. "I'm Anabel, and I am the instructor for this here class."

"Hi, Anabel. Yes, I am Ash Ketchum from Pallet town." Ash said, bowing. Anabel turned to Gary.

"Gary, I don't know WHY you're in here again. The last time you were being your hot-shot mage self, you wrecked the shooter and I had to keep this class 'out of order' for a week," Anabel yelled at Gary, who cringed.

"Well, I can't help being a beginner at Aura Magic, and you can't help being a good girl who cleans up-" Ash did a huge double take.

"You're a girl?" Ash said in completely bewildered.

"Why yes, I am." Anabel gave him a weird look.

"Uh... Right, sorry about that. So, what do you teach here?" Ash said, changing the topic.

"This class is for beginner Aura Mages, _and_ for Aura Warriors, B class and above," Anabel shot a glare towards Gary.

"I see, seeing I'm neither of them, why did you bring me here Gary?" Ash questioned.

"She said it was for them. Not _only_ for them. You can try your hand at it too, but it's not compulsory for you to practice, like it is for us mages..." Gary was crying Anime-tears.

"Alright, I'll try my best" Ash said confidently.

Anabel nodded and took him towards the fish like, thingy. Ash observed it more carefully. It was a large fish, pinned to the ceiling wall 50ft above the ground by an arrow. But since it was so high, Ash saw the fish just as big as a nail. Directly beneath the fish on the ground was clear, and calm water contained in a circular tub.

"Now Ash. This is the simplest machine which will test your eye capacity. The goal of this is pretty simple, you will be handed a bow and an arrow. All you have to do is look into this water filled tub and try to aim your attack by looking into the water, but pointing the arrow head at the Fish's eye above. You have to aim your attack by looking at the reflection of the fish in the water, and then hit it's eye above." Anabel explained.

"Uh huh... I think I can do it..." Ash said. He was sweating nervously.

He grabbed the bow and arrow that Anabel handed him. He looked into the calm water of the tub and saw the reflection of the fish clearly. He positioned the bow to fire upwards, towards the fish, all the while looking into the water. Ash had to admit , it was pretty hard to guide the bow as everything was seen in reverse. It didn't help that it was so high. He was sweating bullets by now. When he was confident enough that the bow's position was just right, he armed it with an arrow and then fired it. It missed the eye, and instead hit its fin. Ash sighed.

"Well, that was a good try Ash. Beginners usually have a lot of problem doing that since it is 50ft high. Now we will try with the Aura Enhancement method," Anabel explained.

"What's that?" Ash asked.

"What? Brawly hasn't told you yet?" Anabel shot a questioning glance at Gary who just whispered something in her ear.

"Ah, I see, you're not familiar with what Aura enhancement is yet." Anabelsaid.

"Yeah, I don't." He really had no actual clue.

"Enhancement is, improving... You see, when you run Aura through any part of your body, you increase its capabilities. For example," Anabel continued as she walked toward Gary.

"This." To Ash's great astonishment, her hand glowed blue and she lowered it to Gary's foot. Gary stepped on her hand and she lifted it up, along with Gary, who looked completely calm, in contrast to Ash's bewildered expression.

"What the- How- 80 poun-" Ash babbled, freaking out.

"It's easy, you will learn it in Strength enhancement," Gary smirked, 4ft above the ground.

"Well, you're not gonna learn strength enhancement just yet, your body is too weak for that. But what you can do is try to enhance your senses. Of course, it's gonna take a lot of tries to do that as well. Gary here, took 15 tries," Anabel explained as she lowered Gary.Gary went red due to embarrassment at his secret getting exposed.

"How do I do that?" Ash asked.

"Alright, Gary told me you already know the basics on how to force your Aura into your blade right?" Ash just nodded. He knew he hadn't mastered forcing Aura into his blade yet, but he knew the basics just fine, courtesy of dad.

"Try to force the Aura in your eyes, but gently, not as roughly as you did with the blade."

Ash nodded. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard. He felt his life force and his Aura, deep inside his chest. He guided that energy upwards, through his neck, onto his face and slowly and carefully toward his forehead region. Once the energy reached his eyes, he stopped. He held it on the eye region, but could feel the energy's efforts to disperse in his body.

"Yes, you're doing great. Just hold it a little longer..." Ash could hear Anabel.

"Right," Ash said as he tried his hardest to keep the energy from dispersing. After a while, the energy kind of froze. It stopped its efforts to dissipate and fixed itself upon Ash's eyes.

"I think that would be enough, now carefully open your eyes." Anabel spoke out as she frowned at Gary carelessly whistling with acarefree expression.

Ash opened his eyes like a newborn, opening his eyes for the first time. To Gary and Anabel, his eyes appeared to emit a blue glow, without any pupil. For Ash he just gasped at what he saw.

Everything was just so... defined. So, precise. He could see everything in their finest form. He could see and count the threads that made Gary's shirt. He could see the fine lines in his hands and he could see the water in the tub so clear now. He noticed that his original thought of water being clear was wrong; he could see the dust particles, the tiny insects and hair floating above the water. He looked up at the fish. Previously, the fish had appeared as small as a tiny nail to him. But now, he could even see the small brownish rust lines on the actual nail that pinned the fish to the ceiling above.

"Like it?" Gary smirked. He was not at all surprised that it took his little brother just one try to master it. That was not the case with Anabel however.

She looked completely aghast. How could a boy, who cannot even control muscle enhancement yet, do something so advanced. She recomposed her expression after Ash saw her gaping up at him.

"Well done Ash. I must say, you're quite unusual. Not many have controlled Sense Enhancement in just one try." She complimented. Ash just nodded.

"Well try again, why don't you." Gary smiled widely.

"Okay," Ash nodded.

He lifted up his bow again, and then positioned it just like before, only more precise this time. He fired the shot aiming for the Fish's eye again, but it deviated a bit and hit the fish's head. Anabel gasped and Gary still looked uninterested.

"How-How-" She managed to say.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's sloppy but I still need practice, you know," Ash smiled.

"SLOPPY! Ash, no one has ever been able to come that close on his first day!" Anabel yelled out of amazement.

"Uh... Right. Well, what's the point of this anyways, I can see just fine in battle with my normal eyes," Ash said in a bored tone. Anabel tensed.

"The point! Ash, there are many things your Aura Eyes can see and normal eyes cannot. Like, seeing in the dark, and predicting attacks and also ghost type moves like Night shade, shadow punch. At advanced levels, you'll be able to pinpoint the attack's weak points, so that you can use it against your opponents.. You can also use them to see and protect yourself against ghost Pokemon who want to send you to the spirit world," Anabel explained. Ash tensed at the last part.

The spirit world... a distant memory awakened up in him.

"What do you mean. Will I be able to see the entrances made by those Pokemon to the spirit world? Will I... be able to enter it?" Ash questioned in a dark tone. Anabel looked at him strangely, even Gary was surprised by Ash's sudden change of tone.

"Yes, you will... You will be able to see the entrances made by Dusknoir and Lampert like Pokemon, who want to send people to the spirit world... Why?" Anabel asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing..." Ash said, regaining his composure. "I wanna try this again..."

He lifted his bow again, armed it up with an arrow, looked at the water and aimed at the fish's eye above... The gleam in Ash's eye intensifies as his bow glowed a tint of blue. All of Ash's sweat and doubt were gone now. It was just pure confidence and determination. He fired the arrow at tremendous speed. The arrow flew upwards and stopped, reaching its destination, the exact center of the Fish's eye.

Gary gaped and Anabel simply fainted. Ash slowly relaxed his Aura and allowed it to dissipate from his eyes region. His eyes returned back to normal, but still had that determined expression on them.

"Well, that's that." Ash said, his eyes truly returning to normal after he had accomplished what he had set his mind on. Some people came and poured a bucket of water on Anabel, who stood up coughing and blushing out of embarrassment.

"Ash," she **coughed,** "how did you manage to pull that off!" Anabel yelled.

"Well, I sorta put my mind to it and did it." Ash replied.

"Ash, you have no idea what you just did, do you. This is really advanced stuff, pinpointing a target which is far from you while looking at a water is something only B class Mages are able to pull off so perfectly. Yet, you did it, without any previous training!" Anabel screamed in the poor boy's ears. "I only wonder WHY are you not able to do Muscle enhancement."

"Um... Yay?" Anabel was freaking Ash out. Gary saw this and intervened.

"I think that's enough, Anabel. We can do the other senses' enhancement later; Ash must be tired after all that," Gary said. Anabel was trying to protest.

"Huh? But I'm not at all-" Ash stopped himself mid-sentence. He finally caught on what Gary was doing.

As if it heard Ash's plight, the bell rung.

"Uh... Well, Anabel, I must go now. The next class is... hehe.. Bye," Ash said sweat dropping. With that, he ran out of the room grabbing Gary and literally dragging him along, leaving a dumbstruck Anabel behind.

"Wow, that was fast," Gary smirked.

"Gary, I have ONE question," Ash pleaded. "Why is it always me that gets into these kind of sticky situations?"

"Well, it's because you're too interesting," Gary replied simply. Ash looked at him weirdly.

"Ew... No Gary! I don't hang that way." Ash said, getting away from Gary.

" No, no.. Hehe.. I didn't mean it like that! C'mon," Gary smirked as he advanced towards Ash.

_After a while of running around and explaining..._

"Uh... Well, glad that's over with." Ash said disgusted by his own brother.

"Ditto, now c'mon, you gotta go to the class right now and we're already 15 minutes late!" Gary said, dragging him behind door 3.

"WHOEVER YOU ARE! YOU'RE LATE!" They heard someone scream at them as soon as they entered the inhumanly large room.

"Uh... Yeah, we kinda got lost?" Gary seemed to be asking himself.

It was a large open room. It was plain white all through, white marbled floor, while walls, and even white chandeliers. There was a huge battlefield in the middle, like the atrium. It occupied half of the room's area. There were a lot of students here, and most of them looked like one of those buffed up bodyguard kind. Ash's eyes widened when he saw that most of his friends were here too. Drew, Brock and Ritchie along with Dawn, Zoey and May. A tall white haired, lab coated and strict looking man walked to them. He was tall, taller than Oak, and had a white mustache, which hid his mouth. He had a black name-tag on that read '_Rowan, vice-chancellor, battle dept.'_

"ENOUGH! Ash Ketchum, I can forgive you as you are a new student here," said Professor Rowan, "while Gary Oak here, has no excuse!"

"But Sir! I was just showing Ash around!" Gary whined. Prof. Rowan just sighed and motioned them to come in. Gary smirked widely at his victory.

They walked into the room and went over to Brock and Drew.

"Glad you made it. I was beginning to worry about you guys," Brock said.

"Yeah, he was probably flirting with his fan girls again," Drew muttered and just for that, Gary put him in a headlock.

"Why I oughta-"

Ash snickered as he went over to Ritchie for asking what this class was about.

"This is battle class," Ritchie said simply, "You have to apply whatever you learn here. Beware, there are many strong guys," Ritchie said while looking at Paul hatefully.

"That's it? I have just enhancement to learn!" Ash asked in disbelief.

"What? Don't be ridiculous! How can you expect this huge an Academy to teach just one thing?" Ritchie replied.

Ash just shrugged as Gary ended his fight with the usual Drew kicking Gary on his hindquarters. Drew went over to chat with the girls, while Gary came to Ash, rubbing his bottom end. Ash then saw Drew going off somewhere, probably trying to outdo Gary in bunking the class.

"So, Ashy boy, any questions?" Gary asked.

"Yeah... Like... WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CLASS ABOUT!" Ash yelled at his own lack of information

"Well, first, that old cranky guy who yelled at us. He's Professor Rowan. He's a strict guy," He said pointing at the white-haired of two men, who were talking beside the arena.

"And the other one?" Ash asked. Gary gaped at him in disbelief.

"You don't know Brandon!" Gary practically yelled in his ears. "He's a very powerful and respected Elder like Dad. He is also Vice Principal, the principal himself being Dad."

"I know that!" Ash smiled. It surprised Ash to see Dawn smile too. He hadn't even noticed her until now. But he was glad that she was warming up to him.

"YOU THERE, STOP CHATTING!" Brandon yelled at them.

"Oh, and did I mention never to cross him," Gary added.

"Sure did..." Ash rolled his eyes.

"Since everybody has joined us now," Professor Rowan said, glaring at Ash and Gary, "We can start the practice sessions."

"Who will volunteer to fight first?" Brandon asked around.

Paul shot up his hand, and so did Gary. But unfortunately, both were ditched.

"Ash and say... Ritchie. C'mon up to the battlefield," Prof. Rowan ordered. Ash and Ritchie complied, both smirking at this interesting new match.

"I won't hold back, Ritchie," Ash smirked.

"Neither will I," Ritchie returned the smirk.

Professor Rowan led them to the battlefield, and they both got on opposite ends and into their battle position. Ash drew out Icarus, his blade. So did Ritchie, who brought out a long sword.

"BEGIN!" Brandon yelled.

Ash smirked and then swiped it off his face at his sudden realization.

"WAIT! My Pokémon are at the Lab!" Ash yelled at his foolery.

Rowan fell down, Anime-Style and motioned him with his finger, to go to the transfer machine beside the battlefield. After a while, Ash returned with Pikachu...

Ritchie took out one of his poke balls and threw it in the air and instantly, the poke ball released a blue pupa like Pokémon with a hard spiky shell, dark eyes and unreadable expression. It growled.

Ash dashed up to Ritchie and then lowered himself so that he slid down and went through Ritchie's legs, knocking him down on the way. Pupitar lunged for Pikachu, but it just dodged the tackle and countered with a powerful thunderbolt.

It didn't affect Pupitar at all, who charged at Pikachu with a full on tackle attack. Pikachu dodged it at the same time when Ash dodged a swipe from Ritchie's long sword. Pikachu charged up for a volt tackle,

However...

"Hehe! Now Cruz, Stone Edge!" Ritchie screamed as he jumped into the air with his long sword.

Pupitar's body glowed as rock hard stones started revolving his body. It started floating in midair, as stones shot themselves at Ash and Pikachu. Ritchie gritted his teeth, he was taking a HUGE risk as he had not yet perfected this move with Cruz. And he didn't want the battle to end like his previous Training Session...

Ash had no time to think. The stones were already advancing towards them. All he could do was to order Pikachu to dodge, and do so himself, but for how long...?

The stones kept coming as Ash and Pikachu struggled to dodge. They did dodge many, but a fair share were hitting them too. Ash saw Pikachu's small body sustaining wounds, big ones. He could not let that happen. The ground was starting to tremble because of the hits of those stones.

_Wait, the ground? That's it! _

Ash forced his Aura into Icarus. He then thrust it into the ground, breaking the marble tiles. As he had expected, there was a thick layer of soil beneath, He began digging furiously. All his time working his butt off at that damn rock had strengthened his arms a lot. He eventually dug a kind of small burrow, in which he told Pikachu to hide in. He then whispered out his plan to Pikachu who nodded with a smile and dug even further underground.

Unfortunately, all this had taken its toll on Ash. While Pikachu was dodging most of the rocks, Ash was digging, taking hits to his back and shoulders. His shirt had partly torn off and just when Ritchie was thinking of calling off that attack Ash gave him a reassuring smirk.

Ash ran forward with his Aura imbued Icarus, still gasping for breath. Just then he saw an expression on Ritchie's face, an expression of nervousness? And expectancy? Like he was nervous something bad is going to follow. Suddenly, his expression turned to one of horror. Ash, confused at what he was watching, followed his widened eyes. Only to have his widened as well.

Cruz's stones were throwing a kind of a fit. His stones started flying off in every direction, while Pupitar tried desperately to control what he was doing. The stones were also creating a kind of sandstorm, making it hard to breath. As the battlefield was huge, no other student got hurt. The stones didn't reach there. And that was when he saw the worried expressions of Gary, Brock, Dawn and May. However, the teachers seemed to be unfazed, and so were the seniors.

Ash jumped up and tried landing a hit on Cruz by Icarus, but failed as it was blocked off by the stones circulating it. It seemed like the perfect defense. _The Ultimate Defense_.

_If I could just bring it close enough..._ Ash jumped up again, only to be thrown back on the ground. He stones were moving faster than his eye could catch on to dodge it. And their speed increased near Cruz. He then remembered something Spencer once told him...

_Hurry, or you'll miss dinner…_ NO, not that one. _You have to use all of your senses Ash..._

Ash closed his eyes, yet again. His eyes can't help right now... He started to concentrate and sensed the tiny vibrations air and stones flying past him. He then thought of a strategy. Even if he sensed the stone movements, his body isn't quick enough to dodge. What he could do is-

Suddenly, Ash noticed something. Ritchie, who was also trying to avoid a hit by those stones, was also trying to calm Cruz down. He knew at that moment that Ritchie never intended all this to happen. Then, it hit him!

"Ritchie, we need to work together on this, okay!" Ash yelled over the sandstorm. He could see Ritchie nodding. From a distance, Prof. Rowan frowned.

"Okay, attack him from front, I think I got this figured..." Ash yelled.

Ritchie drew out his sword, and charged at his own Pokémon. Yet again, the stone wall blocked it off. But Ash got behind him too fast. The stones used to make a shield were in front of Cruz, so its backside was completely unprotected. With a quick slash of his blade, Ash knocked Cruz down. It was ready to get up again fight but was hit by a tail... an Iron Tail to be precise.

Pikachu had suddenly jumped out of the hole Ash had dug and hit a petrified Cruz's back with Iron tail. The poor pupitar screamed its name before falling, the stones around him falling and the sandstorm calming down. Pupitar had swirls for eyes. Ritchie had an expression of regret over his face. Pikachu ran and climbed up Ash's shoulders.

"I'm sorry that happened Ash, I never should have used that move. We haven't perfected it yet..." Ritchie said sorrowfully, as he whispered 'thanks for trying' to Cruz and returned him to his Pokeball.

"It's okay... But man is that move powerful! You gotta teach it to one of my Pokémon someday!" Ash smiled.

They both laughed and walked back to the main classroom. Ash looked at his friends, all of them were smirking and laughing except Gary. He seemed... disappointed? Ash made a note to ask him what was wrong. Professor Rowan approached him, with his usual strict face. Pikachu cringed at the sight of him.

"Ash, is it now, you performed exceptionally well." Ash smiled. "However, your method of execution was completely wrong."

Ash's face fell. What had he done wrong? Pikachu was scratching its tiny little head,

"Why... sir?" Ash asked meekly.

"Because, first, you should _never_ join hands with the enemy; if it were a real enemy, it would have been most likely that he'd betray you afterwards. Secondly, even if you did join hands with him, if Ritchie here is a friend, you should always look out for them. You sacrificed Ritchie to distract Pupitar's stone Edge attack. What if it was a real battle and Ritchie was a comrade? Would you have sacrificed your friend for one battle!" Professor Rowan said sternly.

Every word hit Ash like a thunderbolt of realization. He lowered his head in shame. He finally understood why Gary looked so disappointed in him. He didn't expect him to abandon a friend...

"Sorry sir..." Ash said regretfully.

Professor Rowan nodded and dismissed him. He walked over to his friends, wearing a Brock style dark aura cloak. Ritchie followed, feeling sorry for his friend. Pikachu cooed sadly. He knew what they had done was wrong...

"Sorry guys, I messed up..." Ash said, once reaching the group.

"What are you saying! You did great! No one expects that from a beginner!" Gary yelled his usual cheery smirk.

"But I put Ritchie in danger!" Ash argued.

"That's what that darn prof says. It wasn't a real battle and you didn't mean it." Brock argued back. All the others nodded their agreement.

"Yeah, he always criticizes students for their mistakes. Don't take it so hard." Dawn suddenly spoke up. Ash was surprised; he hadn't even known that she was here.

"I don't know..." Ash trailed off. Gary sighed.

"He's right you know." Zoey spoke from beside Dawn. "You should take in the advice and improve, not stand there like a mule and get sad over it."

The others glared at her for being so rude. Even Dawn frowned at her friend's behavior. Ash lowered his head.

"Look, let's just forget this happened, bro. It's Recess. Let's go to the Cafeteria." Gary tugged Ash gently. Ash merely nodded as he followed him to the cafeteria. He didn't even see where Gary led him; he was too consumed in his thoughts.

"Wait, are you guys really gonna eat in those...?" Dawn giggled. Ash saw his battered and torn clothes and so did Ritchie.

Ritchie turned a deep shade of red. Normally, Ash would have done so too, but this time, he didn't. He was still depressed over the incident.

"We're cool with it..." Ash mumbled. Ritchie looked at him before nervously smiling his agreement.

To say that the cafeteria was almost empty was an understatement. There were just 5 or so people there besides Ash and his friends.

They went on to sit at a wooden rectangular table with 9 chairs around it. Ash ordered some French fries, soda pop and Ramen while others strangely ordered the same.

"So, Ash, how do you like the school so far?" Brock said, breaking the ice.

"Pretty good, Seems kinda short though," Ash replied slightly more cheerfully.

"God, Ash, I think I told you. There many other classes of different fields. It's not even afternoon yet." Ritchie said, trying to cheer Ash up.

"Yeah, you did. So, what other classes do I have?" Ash asked, curiously.

"Well, there is the Weapon Handling, and Aura Concealment, Aura healing and Elemental affinity etc. It all depends on what you choose. First day students have to try them all out. And Aura Enhancement classes are a must, so, you're stuck there," Brock smirked, glad that Ash was taking his mind off that little incident.

"Yeah, I suppose so," Ash nodded. After that he forgot about the incident completely, for now in front of him lay a full plate of his favorite dishes. He began chowing down on them like his Snorlax. Pikachu sweat dropped and jumped down from his shoulders to eat from Brock's famous Pika-bowl. He then started to imitate his master.

Once the recess was over, Ash came to know from Gary exactly _where _they were. It turned out that the juniors had a separate Cafeteria, while seniors had their own. So, the cafeteria was on the same corridor as the Junior classes.

After lunch, Ash said his 'see u laters' to his friends as he followed Gary to their next class. Gary had already told him what it was. It was Aura Weaponry, which is the reason Ash was practically dragging Gary while rushing towards Door no. 5. It was an unsurprisingly long way from the entrance of the corridor.

Ash felt nervous. Would he mess up like he did in Strength enhancement and battle class? Or would he excel as in Senses Enhancement? He could feel the sweat on his hands building up.

Ash and Gary entered the room. It was actually kinda small as compared to the other gargantuan rooms. It consisted of just a single normal-sized battlefield, and a wall with various weapons hanging on it. Suddenly, an arrow came flying towards Ash. He ducked just in the nick of time to avoid it. Even so, a few of his hair strands got unlucky and fell before him. The arrow was advancing towards Gary now.

All this while, Ash was wondering why Gary had been so unimpressed in his accomplishments at the Academy. After all, he did pull off being the first one to master Sense Enhancement in one day. Well, now he understood why...

Gary quickly activated his Aura eyes, which glowed the brightest blue. He seemed to be watching the arrow in slow motion. He grabbed it by the middle portion and deflected it towards the ground, even before the arrow had chance to move an inch. In a flash, his Aura Eyes normalized. It was then, that Ash realized that Gary was in a whole different league than Ash. He could enhance his eyes perfectly in a second. And Gary had been there at the Academy, learning it for just two months.

"WHO WAS THAT!" Gary yelled in anger.

"Uh... Sorry Gary. I kinda missed the target again..." Said a fat orange haired guy who was dressed like one those Obese Japanese Gang-leaders that they show in a ninja manga.

Gary sighed. Of course it was Morrison. He should've had guessed it the first time.

"Morrison... What did I tell you about using ranged weapons?" Gary said coolly.

"Not until I master close ranged ones..." Morrison recited like a 5 year old caught in wrongdoing.

Gary pulled Ash downwards and whispered in his ear.

"This guy's Morrison. He's a stubborn and determined kid, and considers me his mentor," Gary whispered. Ash nodded.

"So, who's the teacher here?" Ash asked Gary, who just smirked.

"You already know him." Gary said.

"It is I, Ash. Glad to see that you made it." A mysterious voice spoke. Ash started and looked back in surprise. Gary looked back at the source of the voice too.

Ash raised his eyebrows in surprise. The man before him was none other than...

**As you know, Ash already knows some of the stuff taught here at the academy, but he still has much to learn if he hopes to become the best of all. **

**One thing, I forgot to mention earlier is, this academy doesn't get many admissions. Sure there are more a hundred applicants per year, but only about 5 of them actually manage to pass the gruelling entrance test somehow. **

**Can anyone guess the reference to the Anime I made in this chapter. It's in the battle. C'mon try it, it's really kinda easy.**

**Oops, almost forgot. Don't forget to review and tell me how you felt about this one.**


	4. Chapter 4: Era of The First Day Part II

**Okay, first, DON'T KILL ME!. I know I was more than very late, but I have a good and whole hearted excuse. See, I was having these stupid things called midterms. Heaven knows why they exist... -_-**  
><strong>Also, do you guys think that I should turn on Anonymous filter? Cuz a friend told me that someone's been spammin my reviews. Just need your opinion. :3<strong>

**Also,o_O I would have thought you might have guessed who the person was. :) I'm REALLY uncreative, so my stories tend to lack appeal. :( This chapter, well, could be said a little advanceshipping-ish if you stretched it, but would all end in PEARLSHIPPING! ^_^ Please forgive any mistakes, I didn't have time to edit this as I got math extra class in about 8 minutes. **

**P.S. Kendell is the guy from Pokemon Summer Academy. You know the big muscular guy that hit on Dawn. He has a similar role here. I can honestly say that I had a Lot of Fun writing this one although it's not my personal Best. Next chapter will probably be better as that's when the POVs will kick in. Hope you like reading it too. ;) This chapter is when the characters open up somewhat. The real story plot will start to unfold from Chapter 7. This Fic may seem a little Happy go lucky at first but around Chapter 7 or 8 introduces the Dark Part.**

**No more spoiling. On with the Fic!**

Ash raised his eyebrows in surprise. The man before him was none other than... the familiar bald, tanned figure with slit like eyes.

"Good to see that you made it." Spencer smiled. Whatever surprise there was on Ash's face was replaced by an extremely annoyed look when he saw Gary snickering at his expression.

"What the- Gary!" Ash yelled at his companion in exasperation.

"What? I thought you liked surprises." Gary smiled. Ash facepalmed.

Numerous students had gathered around Spencer. Most of them were big and husky seniors,but few of them Ash recognized as juniors; from their drooping shoulders and weak and fragile looking bodies. Spencer grabbed Ash's shoulders and presented him to the people like a door salesman would.

"Students, this is Ash Ketchum. He will be joining us in our efforts against the Dark Lord. Do help him with anything he needs to know please." Spencer explained to the class.

Ash just smiled nervously at the people before him. He didn't even notice that Spencer had said his name. The juniors seemed alright as they were either smiling encouragingly or paying no attention to him whatsoever. On the other hand, a gang of seniors were growling deeply. The leader of the pack was staring Ash down menacingly. Ash had a feeling that he would somehow manage mess up his class, an his day again but, nevertheless, put on a brave face as he spoke.

"Hi there, I'm Ash from Pallet town." Ash fake smiled. Spencer nodded approvingly and Ash turned towards him. A senior's hand was halfway to his sword.

"So, uh.. Spencer. What's this class about. I mean would we like, battle huge monsterous shades and kill bad guys and stuff?" Ash inquired.

Spencer tilted his head in amusement and frowned. A few of the students snickered.

"We are here merely to train you, child. This academy is a safe ground for students of Aura. We cannot bring shades in here. That's a challenge that you must face in the outside world." Spencer said calmly.

"Oh, right... Sorry Spencer..." Ash said as he pulled down his hat in embarrassment. Spencer smiled for a second and then hardened his expression like the coaches at regular schools sometimes do.

"You will not call me by my name, Ash. While you are here, you must speak of me as Sir or Teacher only!" Spencer said sternly. Ash was completely dumbstruck by Spencer's sudden change in behavior.

"Yes, Spen- Sir." Ash probably said in total honesty, but as usual, it came out wrong.

"Insolence will not be tolerated here, Mr. Ketchum." Spencer growled.

Spencer narrowed his eyes . Ash felt like he would melt away from the bald man's intense stare.

"Well Ash, I'll give you a moment to acquaint yourself with your new classmates. Meanwhile, I need to speak with Gary here." Spencer said. He looked like he was unsure of something.

Ash sweat-dropped nervously and mumbled something that sounded like don't l-leave . Gary and Spencer walked out of the room as Ash was left with a group of complete strangers gawking at him.

"So, you're the Ash Ketchum eh? Son of Elder Samuel Oak, and brother of the invincible Gary Oak himself. Kinda bratty aren't you?" The senior who was staring Ash down before, spoke up. He seemed to be telling Ash rather than asking him.

The juniors were looking horrified and some of the seniors were too. Ash figured that the big guy held some weight here. Literally.

"Well, yeah I'm the same Ash Ketchum. You're calling that big oaf of a brother invincible? You must respect him a lot " Ash chuckled at some old memory.

"Gary is no ally of mine, I assure you of that, Ketchum. Where did you get that Augar?" The senior growled.

"That Otter? But I don't-" Ash was interrupted by the senior's irritated gesture towards Ash's blade. Ash noticed that a lot of students were staring at Icarus.

"It's name isn't augar. It's Icarus," Ash said indignantly.

"Fool! Augar is Bla – Oh forget it, just tell me who gave it to you." The senior urged.

"My dad did." Ash frowned.  
>"You lie... Elder Oak would not have been allowed to carry such a powerful weapon!" The senior said. Ash was getting increasingly irritated by this guy's behavior towards Ash's family.<p>

"He said someone gave it to him to pass down to me. He never said who that was. Why?"

"No matter. It's time for your inauguration now." The senior grinned stupidly. All the others of his pack followed, but the juniors' faces turned white as if they've been through it before.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked cautiously, his hand on Icarus's hilt.

"Drop your pants." The senior ordered in a commanding tone. Ash gaped.

"Sorry?" Ash asked

"You heard me. Show us underwear dancing skills." The senior smirked. Ash would have laughed at this, if he wasn't so confused. This sounded really weird to Ash and it took him a while to realize that the senior was trying to rag him. Once he did however, he looked quizzically at the senior.

"Dude, that's totally... you know... " Ash smiled nervously. Uh-Oh, he said something stupid... again.

That ticked the bully him off, big time. He had a vein pulsing in his forehead and a mouth resembling an ogre with indigestion . He walked up to Ash, and grabbed him by the collar harshly. He was so tall, Ash's head could barely reach up to his neck.

"Listen, Ketchum, you may have been a big fish in your home-town , but things work our way in this weaponry class. Everyone's gotta job in this world." For a second, the senior got a pained look on his face. Then he regained his composure "Your job here is to get beat up by us in front of Spencer. Make one mistake, one little slip in that job and you'll find your head halfway down the academy gutter." The senior threatened.

Anger flared inside Ash. He was not one to be pushed around by a bully. In fact, he hated them, always picking on the weak. No, Ash had been in WAY tougher spots than this. He couldn't allow himself to be beat up.

"Look, I don't know who you are big guy, but release me now. I'll do things my way and I'd like to see you guys try to change that. Bullying people just for gaining rep is a form of pure cowardice and frankly, I'm not surprised that you would try it." Ash growled. The Big Guy's pimpled face grew red with rage. He tightened his grip around Ash's collar. Ash quickly grabbed the senior's fist and twisted his wrist with a sharp jerk. The senior winced. A tiny part of Ash wondered where the courage came from. Maybe it was because he was so angry at the senior.

The room was completely quiet.. The only voices which could be heard were of the juniors silently praying to Zeus for this new guy's survival. Apparently, he was listening.

"Do you know before whom you stand? I could crush you effortlessly. You don't stand a chance with your puny body." The senior yelled in anger. The voice echoed in the hall.

"That's all you have to say?" Ash smirked "A guy told me that once, when I was on the run. He changed his mind soon enough." One of the other members from the pack stepped up.

"This before you is the great Kendell, Conqueror of a Dark One himself. You'd better show some respect, Ketchum!" The guy ordered.

"Hmmf, Like I care. I'll respect him if I deem him worthy of it. How do I know he actually defeated a Dark One. He could just be faking it, as do all the cowards of his level." Ash waved off. This seriously annoyed Kendell. He placed his hand on the hilt of the war hammer on his back. Ash instantly raised up his guard, as he stepped back in defense. The other students edged further from the two.

"So how about I prove it? Let's battle, Ash Ketchum!" Kendell roared as he drew out his war hammer and charged head-on at Ash, ready to strike his head down. Now, under normal circumstances, Ash would have sidestepped and struck Kendell from behind with the butt of his sword. But Kendell charged from a really close range, and Ash barely had time to unsheathe Icarus and block the impact of the hammer with the sword's flat side. Kendell kept trying to break through the sword as the clash between the two weapons started to emit some sparks and Icarus, despite being larger was no match for Kendell's sheer strength. The force at which Kendell was pushing was unbelievably strong. Due to Ash's disadvantage in size and weight, Ash fell back a bit, but never stopped defending against Kendell's efforts to break through the Sword barrier.

Ash knew he couldn't hold out much longer. His hands were starting to buckle from the incredible force at which Kendell was smashing his blade and his legs were already feeling as if they were made of jelly. He carefully and slowly ducked down without ever breaking eye-contact. Just then, he quickly slid from between Kendell's outspread legs, thus withdrawing his sword from the clash. He was about to release a spear cannon at Kendell from behind, however, after reaching Kendell's other side, he knelt down and started breathing heavily. He had miscalculated his own stamina. Keeping up the Blockade really tired Ash out. The hammer meanwhile, struck the wall behind without Ash as the source of the blockade. The walled shattered into pieces with a loud bang. Of course, this just made Kendell even angrier.

"You don't even know how to use that blade's power. And yet, YOU got it? It should've been me! I was destined to wield that blade! Maybe I should just snatch it away!" Kendell growled.

"No one's taking my Icarus." Ash growled back and spat at him.

"I will pulverize you!" Kendell roared in anger as he prepared for another charge attack. Kendell's hammer started to glow red and the student's faces turned pale.

Ash knew better than blocking Kendell. He was WAY too strong and yet, Kendell was coming in with another angry charge. Ash braced himself and just at the last moment when Kendell was about to strike, Ash jumped high. And I mean REAL high, he was ten feet above the ground. Before Kendell had time to look up, Ash planted a kick, full in Kendell's face. The big guy roared in anger yet again until something broke in his conscience and his eyes turned red.

Ash landed beside Kendell, but immediately fell back. Blood was dripping from Ash's shoulder. Kendell had got him after all.

Kendell recovered from the face kick and looked at Ash. Ash gasped at what he saw. Kendell's eyes had become pure red, and there didn't seem to be anything behind them. He wore a completely calm expression and overgrown canines. His face seemed to be... bloodthirsty... He walked towards Ash and swung his hammer wildly that would have killed Ash had he not dodged in time. The hammer hit the floor, creating a huge crater in it. Kendell seemed to have lost control. He was roaring just one word, 'kill' in a voice that was a raspy version of the original.

Ash analyzed his current position. Whatever crazy dude spirit or thingy had got into Kendell, had given him a lot more strength. On the other hand, his judgment and speed seemed to have gone way down. He was wildly attacking Ash, hardly caring for any defense or strategy. What was freaking. Ash out was that Kendell seemed to be emitting a faint reddish Aura that matched his red eyes. It was slowly engulfing his body.

"By the gods, that's an angry bull." Ash muttered. He had seen that transformation only once, and he didn't want to encounter it again... He knew it would not last long and if Ash just managed to confuse Kendell long enough, he might actually escape with his neck intact. Ash did have an idea to defeat him, but he would be seriously hurting himself. But then again, it would cool Kendell down for a while.

Kendell seemed have given up on randomly charging at Ash. He threw his hammer away and grabbed a sword from someone. Ash had hoped for a fair hand to hand swordfighting and therefore was not at all surprised when Kendell used the sword as a throwing knife and aimed it at Ash's head. He ducked just in time and the sword went whoosh past him and smashed into the wall behind. Kendell picked up a whole barrel of throwing knives and threw about 10 at a time. Ash had difficulty dodging every one of them with an injured shoulder and sprained ankle so naturally, many knifes managed to give him quite the painful scratches.

Just when Kendell ran out of knifes and started looking for another barrel, Ash concentrated his Aura. He gently willed it to freeze around his eyes and it did. Kendell snatched a knife from a nearby junior. He threw it ruthlessly on Ash's defenseless position. The blade struck Ash's shoulder. Ash winced in pain but didn't break focus. Kendell grabbed a kind of blunt club from a nearby weapon wall, and launched it at Ash's stomach. The thing struck Ash with so much force, Ash stumbled back and coughed out some blood. When the energy finally fixed itself on Ash's eyes, he opened them, with the same extra sensory vision he had hoped for.

Kendell seemed to have calmed down a little from his strange red anger thingy when he saw Ash's blood. He prepared for another charge and lifted his hammer up from the floor. Ash meanwhile picked up 8 knives that Kendell had thrown earlier and sat down on his knees. Then he swung Icarus in an arc, towards Kendell's feet and screamed, "Celestial Tide!" while he forced Aura into Icarus. A 3 feet tall blue wave erupted from the sword tip, passing beneath Kendell's feet and tripping him on the way. Ash then placed his Icarus on the smooth marble ground, and stood on the flat side. Then he did something that left some juniors with hanging jaws. He Bladeskated... Literally, he started skating around Kendell standing on his blade on the smooth marble. He revolved around Kendell and with every few meters, he threw a knife at Kendell. After all the blades were used up, Ash came to a halt triumphantly.  
>Kendell was completely immobilized. None of the knives had hit his flesh, they were aimed at binding him, so now he was glued to the ground by some knives holding him down by his clothes. The red aura dissipated and Kendell's eyes returned to normal but still wore the completely bloodthirsty look.<p>

"That's using your blade, Kendell." Ash smirked but his face looked strained. It was covered with gashes with blood and bruises.  
>Spencer and Gary slowly stepped into the room. Gary seemed to be biting back his anger. Spencer on the other hand looked as if he was inspecting their fight. With a jolt, Ash realized that Spencer had left them on purpose. Whether he was testing Ash, or Kendell, he would never know. But one thing he did know was, not to ever trust the bald man's tests again...<p>

Ash's vision suddenly blurred and he dropped and collapsed to his wounds. There was blood dripping from scratches on his body and his shoulder looked like it was seriously dislocated, slashed and then crushed. Kendell at the same time freed himself. He was about to charge at the helplessly lying Ash and rip him to pieces when Gary suddenly appeared before him and punched him in the gut. Kendell groaned as he got a fierce Aura Sphere in the chest by Gary. Kendell flew back.

"How DARE you strike my brother! Don't you have ANY respect for the Code of War? Picking on a new student like that! He could have died!" Gary yelled as he grabbed Kendell by the collar. Spencer put a hand on Gary's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Go check up on him and see if he's alright. I'll deal with him." Spencer said, staring Kendell with stern eyes.

Gary nodded, glaring at Kendell all the while. He threw Kendell on the floor roughly and stomped on his arm as he rushed to Ash's lying body. Spencer turned to Kendell with a grave expression on his face.

"Kendell, I did not expect this from you. I had thought that you were one of the few students that possessed the potential to become a truly great warrior. I had hoped that one day you would become an army centurion or maybe even an elite. Clearly, my expectations are crushed..." Spencer said in disgust as if he couldn't believe he had hoped for something like that.

"But- But Master! I AM a great warrior! I'd have defeated that punk if Gary didn't interrupt! And as you said, there is no place for the weak at Sinnoh Academy!" Kendell argued back.

"Kendell, what made you think weak means physically weak? A truly great warrior has to have a pure heart as well. You may be stronger than Ash, but you will never possess the qualities of a warrior, unless you gain control over yourself! You released the Devil Gene without thinking of the consequences. You could have killed your classmates as well as Ash." Spencer hardened his glare at him. "Your behavior has greatly disappointed me Kendell, so I hereby relieve you of your status of a Prefect." Spencer said, turning away from the senior.

Kendell's eyes widened at Spencer's last sentence struck him. He frantically shook his head at the news and pleaded with Spencer not to do it.

"It's a trick. That freak is faking it, don't believe him!" Grendel was pointing at Ash.  
>Spencer however, was a man of his decision. He ignored all of Kendell's efforts to regain his post as Spencer walked towards Ash and Gary. The other students were watching Kendell's half-madness from a distance.<p>

Meanwhile Gary was feeling Ash's pulse. He relaxed when he heard the faint thumps. The other students had formed a circle around Gary and Ash while Kendell's pack rushed to their disgraced leader.

"How is he?" Spencer asked.

"He's alive, barely. He really gave his all to defend against Kendell." Gary smiled in relief.(A/N He just cares about him. No Palletshipping going here, people. -_-)

"Alright. Take him to the Medical wing. I'm sure he'll be back to his old self soon. I will excuse you both from class until then." Spencer smiled.

Gary nodded his approval as he picked up Ash on his shoulder and dashed towards the Medical wing. It was behind the 11th door up the atrium's Victory Road.

He walked into a Pokemon-Center like place. It was where the crash had been heard earlier. It wasn't very big, but Gary knew that behind the various doors there, the Patient hall was considerable spacey. It was painted red and Chanseys were moving around with stretchers and bottles and syringes and whatnot. Gary ran up to the Pink haired lady at the counter wearing a nurse's cap.  
>"Nurse Joy!" Gary practically screamed as he lay Ash's half dead body on the nursing bed. Nurse joy gasped at the young teen's bloody body.<p>

"Oh Dear... Chansey, take him to the healing room as fast as possible" Nurse joy spoke kindly.

"It was because of Kendell." Gary told her bitterly as two Chanseys put Ash on a stretcher and took him to the healing room.

"What do you mean, Gary?"

Gary narrated the story in brief. Nurse Joy's eyebrows traveled up and up her forehead until at the last part, on which her face grew pale.

"Oh no... This is bad... not again..." Nurse joy said.

"Why? Ash's going to be alright, isn't he?" Gary asked nervously.

"Oh sure, Ash will recover soon. It's Kendell that I'm worried about." Nurse Joy said.,

"WHAT? You're worried about HIM! He deserved being demoted. If he can't control his own anger, why control others?" Gary said darkly.

"No, that's not what I meant. See, last year, there was an incident. A freshman insulted Kendell in front of the whole class. A week later, the same freshman's body was found in his room, dead from a hammer blow to his side. Everybody knew that the only person with a hammer that big was Kendell but he wasn't considered involved as no one had a solid proof against him... There have been various cases of Kendell's enemies mysteriously dying or disappearing ever since he GOT admitted to the Academy." Nurse Joy frowned.

"Hm... I see. So are you saying he may try to take revenge on Ash too?" Gary asked.

"Yes, there are strong chances that he might. Meanwhile, Ash must tread with caution... Kendell is known to have a special Berserk like trait. His Body gains incredible strength at the cost of Kendell's Reason. The Devil Gene.** " Nurse Joy darkly as if the word shook her to the core.

"What do you mean? What's the Devil Gene?" Gary asked curiously.

"You don't know? You see, the Devil Gene is a trait that exists inside every Aura User. It had long been a mystery, as only a man with incredibly strong physical and Mental state could master it. One Clan, called the South Forest clan found a way to unlock the Devil Gene at the cost of giving up their thought and decision. And Kendell is a descendant of the South Forest Clan. Therefore he knows the Berserk technique... " Nurse Joy said worriedly.

"Wow, I didn't know that, but don't worry about that, I'm always with Ash. If Kendell tries to go ape on him, he will have to go through me, which, is practically impossible." Gary smirked cockily. Nurse Joy sweat-dropped.

"Here we go again~..." Nurse Joy sighed.

Gary tortured Nurse Joy for another 15 minutes after which he laid down on a couch and fell asleep. He dreamt that he Kendell was on a flying pignite and running away. Gary was on hot pursuit with a Magic Carpet. He was armed with pitchforks and devil warding voodoo charms. Just then, Kendell glanced back and where his eyes should have been, were two hollow holes.  
>Gary woke with a start. Two Chanseys were talking to Nurse Joy.<p>

"What is it?" Gary demanded.

"Oh, Ash's fine now. You may see him. He's in room no. 865" Nurse Joy beamed.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy. Now if you'll excuse me," With that he dashed off towards Ash's room.

He entered the room to see Ash with a plaster over his shoulder and bandages over his body. He found him exercising?

"Hi Gary. How's it going?" Ash said as if they were meeting for dinner. Needless to say,Gary sweat-dropped.

"Well, I'm fine but how about you? You really shouldn't exert yourself you know. You just fought a Tauros!" Gary said.

"Oh Kendell? He's just an annoying bully that I felt that I had to defeat." Ash said, matter-of-factly.

"But that's just it. You didn't, and got yourself almost killed!" Gary said.

"Well, I could have defeated him if he hadn't put me in a hard position. I didn't use much Aura you know, or I'd have beat the pants off that guy. And besides, I need to exercise. I wasn't as strong as him, and that was why I was thrown aside." Ash spoke.

"But Ash, you don't understand, Kendell's a really, really ruthless warrior and he will kill all that stand before him. And now, he's after you," Gary said.

Gary explained what Nurse Joy had told him.

"Well, if he wants to try and kill me, let him try! I ain't scared of him." Ash said with childish bravado. Gary Sweat-dropped.

"The first day of the Academy and you end up in the hospital. Man, Granpa's gonna kill me..." Gary sighed.

"Maybe you could convince him with some of your tofu. You know how much he loves that stuff." Ash said. Gary seemed to be considering that idea.

"Whatever, now do you wanna come back to the Aura Weaponry class or not?" Gary smirked.

'Sure I do!" Ash smiled.

They ran back to the weapon handling classroom back in Corridor 10. Ash's shoulder still hurt like hell, but at least, it was getting better. Ash was welcomed by a familiar bald figure.

"I see that you have recovered Ash. How are you feeling?" Spencer asked.

"I'm great, thanks." Ash beamed.  
>He now saw that the room was pretty crowded. It seems that they were early the first time. Everybody was talking about the Kendell incident which reminded Ash something.<p>

"Where's Kendell?" Ash asked.

"He's been dismissed for today. I have also excused the class today. No one needs to practice as the wall and floor is being repaired." Spencer informed him. He had an irritated look on his face and Ash decided to drop it. He had almost forgotten the wreck they'd caused because of their little 'tussle'.

"That's great. We have 2 free periods next. Maybe we can grab something as a quick snack." Gary smirked evilly. Ash sweatdropped.

"Well, off you go then. Your training will start tomorrow, Ash." Spencer explained.

Ash nodded and then noticed his friends. He bowed to Spencer and took his leave.

Ash started walking towards his friends' group with Gary. Each person was giving him different looks. Some were hateful, some loving, some insulting, some respectful, and some were even challenging. Ash grew red from embarrassment as he sped up his walk.

There were only a handful of Ash's friends here. Apparently, you could skip class if you wanted to, and most of them preferred to skip it for some practical battle training.

Kenny, Drew, Dawn and May were talking among themselves. As Ash and Gary arrived, they all quieted down.

"Ash! Dude, you took on Kendell!" Drew said in astonishment.

"Well, yes, kinda. Why?" Ash asked.

"Just look at the mirror. You look like you've been trampled by a herd." Drew replied.

"Kendell feared by everyone here 'cuz of his cruel demeanor." Kenny replied sourly. He looked, kinda, ticked off by Kendell. The way he said his. It reminded Ash of the way Misty sometimes spoke in one of her rampages.

"Yes, it was kinda foolish for you to take him on alone, you know." May scolded.

"Wait, Guys, you got it all wrong. I wasn't the one who challenged him. He charged at me, so I defended myself. That's all. And besides, I hate bullies like him." Ash said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, but he did almost kill you, why didn't you try to surrender?" Dawn spoke up. Kenny got even more ticked off.

"Well, first thing, I don't surrender anything, especially battle... and food... and Pokemon. Second, how could I, with the big fella practically sitting on me." Ash smiled nervously

"Okay can we PLEASE stop discussing Kendell!" Kenny suddenly yelled.

"Gee, what got into you?" Ash sweat-dropped.

Gary smirked at Kenny, who shuddered. He knew that smirk.

"Oh no... You wouldn't..." Kenny mumbled.

"Well, Ash. You see, Kendell has this crush on Dawn, and since Kenny-" His sentence was interrupted by Kenny stuffing his sock in

Gary's mouth and then dragging him out of the scene. Dawn seemed completely unaffected by the conversation, so Ash figured it was a regular thing.

"Um... Right. So, how have you guys been with this class?" Ash asked.

"Pretty good." Drew smirked, flashing his short sword and Sabre.

"Me too. But I kinda have difficulty with small weapons, so I use a Mace or Hammer. They are heavy and strike hard." May smiled. Ash had chills over the back of his neck when he imagined an enraged May beating the crap out of Drew with Kendell's warhammer yelling something about Drew forgetting her Birthday.

"Alright. What about you Dawn?" Ash asked when he noticed that the blue haired teen hadn't said anything.

"I use a Custom-made weapon." Dawn replied as she hesitantly drew out a sword from it sheath.

It looked like a normal sword, it was red at the hilt, had a crimson blade and pointed tip. It was also kinda thin compared to Ash's Icarus. What impressed Ash was that the flat side of the sword was actually a metal crossbow, making the weapon a long ranged AND mid ranged weapon. A symbol with two leaves and a bud between them was engraved on the hilt.

" That's an Augar..." Ash said silently. Then he suddenly wondered how he knew that. Dawn looked alarmed.

"What? I mean- Uh... It's name is not Augar... It's Alamos." Dawn said nervously.

"Wow, that's a really cool weapon, Dawn. Did ya customize it yourself?" Ash asked. Dawn shifted uncomfortably and started looking beyond Ash's shoulder.

"No... It was given to me by my... Mom." Dawn said weakly.

"Oh, I see. Well, tell her it's a really good make, and ask her if she could customize my Icarus too." Ash laughed.

"Okay, I will." Dawn tried for a smile. She failed miserbly.

"Why ask her if I can come to dinner sometime and-. Hm... Where does your Mom live, Dawn?" Ash asked politely.  
>These words, Ash said out of common respect, therefore, he was naturally surprised when Dawn broke down into tears and ran out of the room, sobbing loudly. None of the other students noticed this as they were too busy talking among themselves.<p>

"Uh.. What... just happened?" Ash said in confusion.

"Ash, Dawn's mom is..." May said worriedly.

Reality dawned upon Ash as he realized his mistake. He shouldn't have mentioned Dawn's mother... She was already having difficulty talking about her weapon, why did he have to push it? Ash mentally cursed himself.

"Shit.. Where did she go? I have to apologize!" Ash asked frantically looking around even though he saw her run out of the room.

"Hm... Probably to Zoey." May said sadly.

Ash was about to follow her when he heard May's last word and froze.

"Wh-Who?" Ash asked in an extremely scared voice.

"Zoey, she's her best friend." May explained.

"Uh... May, can you come along with me?" Ash asked with chattering teeth.

"Sure, why not." May said, knowing Ash's cause of fear. Zoey could get pretty out of control sometimes.

They both ran off to follow Dawn. Great. His first day and he already managed to mess up a possible friendship.

"You really outdid yourself this time..." Ash muttered to himself angrily.

"Wait. What am I gonna do here ALONE?" Drew yelled to no one in particular. "I need a companion too you know!"

A Gloom came wandering to Drew, and started nuzzling his leg. Drew froze, knowing that the slightest movement could make gloom feel threatened and release it's stinking gas.  
>"The gods hate me..." Drew groaned.<p>

"Um... Where do you think she is?" Ash asked while running.

"Probably in the girls dorm..." May said matter-of-factly.

Ash stopped dead in his tracks.

"But, wait. I can't go in there! I mean, I'm a guy!" Ash said desperately.

"Well, that's why I'm gonna dress you up as a girl." May informed wickedly. Ash's face lost its color.

"Dress who as a what?" Ash said in complete horror, hoping he had misheard.

"Dress you as a Girl. Seriously, what is up with you not hearing stuff." May complained as she dragged a dumbfounded Ash to the Laundry room behind the 17th door on the Victory Road.

After 15 minutes of haggling with washed clothes, she dressed Ash up in a Black and White maid costume complete with a hat on top and black sandals which heaven knows how appeared in a Laundry room. May led Ash to the mirror.

Ash barely looked his former self. His previously glorious look was snatched and torn apart and replaced with a gay look, really forced smile and sunken cheeks. Only one who really knew Ash well could recognize him under this... Cover.

"Done! See, no one would be able to tell you're a guy!" May said as she showed Ash himself in the mirror.

"I'm starting to doubt it myself..." Ash said, Anime-Tears pouring out of his eyes.

"I love this stuff! A hero in disguise coming to rescue a maiden in distress. It's So~ Romantic!" May's eyes turned to stars while Ash just sweat-dropped.

"I wouldn't actually call this a heroic disguise..." Ash mumbled. May shot him a glare.

"Whatever. Now you can enter the girls dorm and talk to Dawn!" May said.

"Yeah, maybe. So, should we begin the plan?" Ash asked.

"Sure. Let's go to the girls Dorm." May agreed.

With that, they marched off to the girls dorm in corridor 6.

"Oh Seriously C'mon! Where ARE Gary and Kenny..." Drew groaned, still having his leg cuddled by Gloom.

Speaking of the devils, Gary and Kenny arrived.  
>"-Kay, I won't then. But seriously Kenny, chill out a little, it's not like she noticed it yet. She's as dense as my bro." Gary was saying.<br>"Guys, I'm so glad that you're her-" Drew was interrupted by Kenny, who was apparently too into the conversation to notice Drew's words.  
>"Oh Drew! Where'd Dawn, May and Ash go?" Kenny asked him.<br>Drew explained all the recent happenings. Gary looked troubled while Kenny looked kinda annoyed.  
>"Oh no, I gotta save Ash from May's wrath..." Gary sped of in the direction of the laundry room.<br>"Ash? What do you mean by that! I gotta kill the guy for making Dawn cry like that!" Kenny growled as he to followed Gary with an angry face.

"Guys..." Drew wailed."Forgetting something?"

"Where is her room?" Ash-y asked May as he ran past yet ANOTHER pink door with Hello-Kitties on it.

"Almost there..." May mumbled as she kept her eyes open for room no 525.

Door after door, pink after white, blue after green, 523 after 524 and then finally.

There it was, a pinkish door with pictures of famous bands stuck on it clearly had the numbers 525 on it.

"There!" May cried as they finally reached their destination, panting and gasping.

"Alright! Let's go in." Ash-y smiled. May nodded. They burst into the green japanese-styled room. It was mediocre sized with windows and a ventilating system at the top.

"DAWN! I'm sorry,I'm sorry,I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry!" Ash-y cried with closed eyes. When he opened them however...

A girl with pink hair was gobbling down noodles with a meowth. She and the Meowth looked up lazily as they saw the newcomers.

"Who's the new girl, Jess?" The Meowth spoke. Wait, what?

The pink haired girl only shrugged as she continued eating the noodles. Ash-y and May had their jaws to the floor.

"THE MEOWTH SPOKE!" They said in unison.

"Yeah, what about it? See Jess, I could go to Hollywood you know but I choose to stick with ya guys. I mean, ladies love me!" The Meowth stated happily.

"Shut up, Meowth. You know the last time you tried acting." Jessie said gesturing towards a sunflora . Meowth shivered and obliged. Jessie shot a questioning look to May and they both stared at each other. Then, she regained her composure.

"Uh. Sorry, we seem to be in the wrong room. We'll take our leave now." May said nervously.

"No, it's completely fine. C'mon here and sit." Jessie said gesturing them forward.

Ash glared daggers at May. How could she forget what room her best friend was in! Nevertheless, they both did as they were told. Ash-y a little nervously as he feared they'll get caught.

"Now, why were you apologizing to Dawn right now?" Jessie asked Ash-y.

"Well, I uh..." Ash-y looked around and his eyes fell on the noodles. "Spilled noodles on her new dress?"  
>May facepalmed and Jessie's eyes narrowed.<p>

"Oh really?" Jessie said peering into Ash-y's eyes.

By now, Ash was seriously sweating bullets. Those evil little blue eyes seemed to extract the information they need right out of Ash's soul.

"I know you are lying so fess up." Jessie said as she drew back into sipping her noodles.

Ash-y sighed as she looked at May who nodded.

"Well, I kinda am a guy." Ash-y confessed.

"WHAT!" Jessie screamed.

"Yeah, please don't tell anyone. I need to remain undercover." Ash-y pleaded.

Alright but on one condition. You tell me what happened with you and Dawn," Jessie threatened.

Ash sighed yet again. Seemed like he won't be able to get out of this...

"Alright. I didn't know that Dawn's mother is not anymore and I kinda mentioned her in front of Dawn. Then she ran off crying and here I am, trying to work out a way to get to her." Ash explained. Jessie nodded understandingly and then looked up.

"I see. And what exactly are you gonna say when you DO get to her because I don't think yelling I'M SORRY a hundred times would work out." Jessie said. Ash sat dumbfounded. She was correct. Ash didn't think they'll make it this far, so that's why he didn't think up an appropriate apology.

"Well, whatever comes to the mind I guess..." Ash trailed off.

"WRONG!" Jessie yelled. Ash flinched." Apology has to come from the heart, not from the mind. You're only apologizing because you think you should, just try and imagine yourself in her position right now."

Ash thought over it. It was true... He only wanted to apologize to Dawn because he thought that he shouldn't have done that.

"See?" Jessie said. May smiled from behind her. Her plan may work out after all. Jessie's eyes glowed blue and Ash looked through it.

Ash went over to the second part of Jessie's sentence. Imagine yourself in her position He didn't remember his mom much, that memory seemed to be rubbed right off his mind. So, he imagined Professor Oak dying battling a Dark One. How the blood dripped off his age-stricken face, how the life slowly left those grey, old eyes, how he struggled to bid Ash goodbye with the final breath of his broken body...

"NO!" Ash screamed in agony. He couldn't take it any longer. Just imagining it brought pain to his heart. Jessie eyes stopped glowing.

"Exactly." Jessie nodded, glad her point had gone through Ash's thick head.

Ash realized it. Previously, Ash had wanted to apologize to her for his behavior. Now, he really NEEDED to apologize to Dawn.

"I must go. I must find Dawn..." Ash said.

"If you think you can, sure, do it." Jessie smiled.

"May, what's her room number. Her REAL room number." Ash asked May a little reproachfully.

"No. 530. Now go get her soldier!" May smiled. Ash smiled back.

"I will," Ash prepared to go out of the room, but then smirked at May "And by the way May, if you really wanted me to talk to Jessie, you could have just said instead of tricking me."  
>May blinked and Jessie smiled. Meowth just stopped his sulking and threw a glance at Ash.<p>

Door after door, number after number until finally!

A black door stood out between all the pink and white. It had a simple picture of a Nightingale and dove and the numbers 530 emblazed upon it.

"Alright. Here we go." He braced himself as he pushed open the door.

"-about it and-" A red haired girl was saying to a blue haired crying one. They both froze at the newcomer.

"Who might you be?" Zoey asked in contempt. Ash had momentarily forgotten his disguise.

"Um... Hey. I'm Ash-ley. Yeah, My name is Ashley. Can I talk to Ms. Dawn for a sec?" Ash-y said in as feminine a voice as he could muster.

"No you can't. She's not in the mood." Zoey said flatly. Ash face-faulted. Dawn lifted her head.

"No...Zoey. Let her speak." Dawn said between sobs.

"Would you mind for us to talk alone..." Ash-y said to Zoey.

Zoey seemed to disapprove but agreed when she got a tug from Dawn. She walked out of the room all the while glaring at Ash-y. Dawn regained her composure as she stopped sobbing somewhat.

"What is it that you want, Ash." Dawn said in a hateful tone.

"Huh? You recognized me?" Ash said in disbelief, trying to ignore her tone.

"Yes. So, your reason?" Dawn demanded. Ash took a deep breath.

"Well Dawn, I'm... I'm sorry... I didn't know about your mother. I understand that living with such pain is excruciating and talking about it hurts a lot. What I'm trying to say is, if you can, please forgive me, I really shouldn't have mentioned your mom. " Ash apologized sadly

They stood in silence for a while. Ash was half expecting a full on slap to the face that would leave him rubbing his cheeks for months. Then finally, Dawn sighed deeply as she motioned Ash to sit on the chair which Ash did, taking it as the first sign of friendship.

"No, it's alright. I shouldn't have snapped at you." Dawn said apologetically.

Ash grinned back which was pretty stupid considering the situation.

"I bet I can defeat your Alamos with my Icarus." Ash said smirking.

It was such an unexpected question, Dawn gaped at Ash as if to see that it was the same person she was talking to. She slowly smirked back.

"I bet you can't. I've had two lives of practice you know." She said. Ash looked confused. Dawn suddenly realized her slip and cursed under her breath. Thankfully, Ash was too much of an idiot to notice it.

"Whatever. I'm still a ton better than you." Ash smiled. Wonderful. Another Rival. Just what he needed.

"Maybe." Dawn smiled.

Ash felt good to talk to her normally. He was glad that he wasn't a new guy to her anymore.

Another awkward silence fell over them both as neither had anything to say. They hadn't really talked before this. Just then, Ash remembered last night.

"Dawn? What were you gonna say yesterday, at the New Students Meet?" Ash asked curiously.

It probably wasn't the best thing to say considering the situation, and Ash regretted as soon as he spoke. Dawn started sweating as she nervously started to stammer unmeaning words.

"I'll tell you what she was saying." Zoey said, reentering the room. Ash cringed a little.

"You aren't gonna blow me up with explosives for what I did?" Ash asked dumbstruck.

Dawn sweat-dropped but Zoey merely smiled. Ash grew even more confused. He couldn't figure the her out. One moment she wants to rip Ash's face off and another she smiles calmly as if they were long time buddies.

"No Ash. At least, not yet..." Zoey smiled evilly. "I have been eavesdropping on your conversation with Dawn. I now know that you will not bring Dawn any harm, physically or mentally. So, in short, I trust you."

Ash sat there, dazed. He didn't expect Zoey to EVER say those words. ESPECIALLY those words.

"Um.. Thanks, I guess..." Ash trailed off.

"Now, listen carefully, Ash. Whatever we are about to say, must NOT escape this room. You are not to tell any creature about this. It is very important that it remains a secret." Zoey warned.

"Kay, then I won't tell." Ash smiled but then added worriedly. "But I can tell Pikachu, right? He's my best buddy. He won't spread it."

Zoey sighed and nodded while Dawn shifted. Ash breathed in relief.

"Alright, but none else. Now, do you know about the Leaf and Snow Clans that used to rule over the northern Sinnoh?" Zoey asked.

"Yes, I do." Ash nodded

"Good, that'll make it a lot easier." Zoey said as she put a hand on Ash's forehead. Dawn copied.

"Oh great, another one of those memory flashback..." Ash muttered as he slipped into Zoey and Dawn's memory chambers.  
>_Flashback_<p>

**Kinda mushy and short chapter ain't it. -_-; Well, that's what happens to me during mid-terms.**

**I'm sorry if I depicted Girls behaviors and and mannerisms wrong. I am a guy, so I don't know stuff like that. :/ This chapter was a lot cheeseh to say the least, but what can I say, it needed to be done. Ash's apology= way too much. I've never been in this kinda predicament before so I don't know what I'd say or think. :/ As I said, I write down stuff that happens with my life. **  
><strong>I wanted Pearlshipping to progress a little while I think of the story beyond chapter 9 (Yes, I have planned it. XD) So, how was it. ^_^<strong>

**Now you guys may think Ash is kind of a soft, no death and over-sensitive person right now, correct? Well, you're in for a surprise in this story. ;) Sorry for Jessie's part and the random ''need and want'' thing. I just did it to introduce Jessie's powers as they'll play a larger part ahead.**

****Guess from where does the phrase "Devil Gene" comes from. ;)**

**Any questions about the story would be answered in a PM, and please do let me clear out your doubts cuz I don't want anybody missing anything. I know I have spun a lot of mysteries, but it's what I do. XD Reviews are always appreciated and looked forward to. Which reminds me, constructive criticism is something that I seriously need. I still am a new writer, so, yeah...**  
><strong>With all due Respect,<strong>  
><strong>SOLAD,<strong>  
><strong>Signing off.<strong>


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